Good news and bad news

First the good news: The IUCN Red List of Endangered Species doesn't include nearly as many angraecoid orchids as I had expected. (The IUCN is the International Union for Conservation of Nature.) The Red List is probably the single most comprehensive assessment of the extinction risk for thousands of plant and animal species. At present, the list is not yet complete for plants, but the IUCN does have a specific task force of experts focused on orchids. Links to the IUCN website, the Red List and the Orchid Specialist Group may be found at the bottom of this post.  So, the good news is that there were not nearly as many angraecoid orchids listed as I had anticipated.  This could be because they have not yet been assessed, or because they aren't quite as threatened as I had supposed.  I hope it is the later, but suspect it is the former. 

The bad news is the angraecoid species which are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered.  

• Angraecum penzigianum -- Vulnerable
• Angraecum humblotianum -- Endangered
• Angraecum pinifolium -- Critically Endangered
• Angraecum coutrixii -- Endangered
• Angraecum sanfordii -- Endangered
• Aeranthes carnosa -- Vulnerable
• Aeranthes tropophila -- Vulnerable 
• Sobennikoffia poissoniana -- Vulnerable 

Most likely there are quite a few others that will join this list.  For example, Kew has observed that Angraecum longicalcar may already be extinct in the wild, and both Angraecum magdalenae and Aeranthes henricii have been collected almost to the point of regional extinction.  

IUCN main webpage: 
http://www.iucn.org/

Search for species on the IUCN Red List web page:
http://www.iucnredlist.org/

IUCN Red List available for download at: 
http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/publications/analysis_of_the_2008_red_list/

Visit the IUCN's Orchid Specialist Group's webpage: 
http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/who_we_are/ssc_specialist_groups_and_red_list_authorities_directory/plants/orchid_specialist_group/