With rapid urbanization worldwide, most people now live in cities, but the effects of urbanization on knowledge about the natural environment is not well studied. Due to the importance of Cymbidium to Chinese traditional culture, we tested how urbanization influences the distribution of orchid knowledge across various knowledge domains at risk of loss due to declining orchid populations. Participants in the Cymbidium trade were interviewed in three distinct urbanization-level jurisdictions in Sichuan, China: Puge (low urbanization), Huili (moderate urbanization) and Chengdu (high urbanization). Using photographic cue-cards of nine Cymbidium taxa, we assessed aggregate and specific knowledge held by 91 orchid collectors/traders across the urbanization gradient. Contrary to expectations, we found that urbanization and orchid knowledge were positively related, but this varied by knowledge type, with moderate urbanization showing significantly higher knowledge in two domains. Our findings suggest that a generalizable understanding of how urbanization affects knowledge must account for differences in knowledge types and geographic/cultural scales, with implications for biocultural diversity conservation in an increasingly urban world.

The orchids Dendrobium infundibulum and Cymbidium insigne are pollinated by the bumblebee Bombus eximius, which also pollinates the ericaceous shrub Rhododendron lyi, A study of the three plants and the bumblebee in maquis-like mountainous vegetation in northern Thailand suggests that they form a floral mimicry system with two mimics (the orchids) to one model (R. lyi). The flowers of the two orchid species offer no food reward to pollinators. Flowers of the three species show definite morphological and visual resemblance, and the species overlap to a great extent in flowering phenology and habitat Mimic flowers were much less numerous than model flowers, which occurred abundantly in the area. The rate of pollinaria removal was very low in both orchid species, resulting in a relatively small percentage of fruit set, especially in D. infundibulum. Infrequency of pollinator visits was, however, somewhat counterbalanced by long-lasting flowers. The pollinaria of the two orchid species are differently positioned on the bee, hence interference between the different reproductive systems is minimized. This is the first report which indicates floral mimicry from tropical Asia.