An ice cream variety popular in Turkey is being blamed for the threat of extinction that faces several rare species of orchid.

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Salep, a flour made from the tubers of dried wild orchids that grow in the mountains of south eastern Turkey, is a key ingredient in an ice cream loved throughout Turkey. Around 1000 orchids are needed to make one kilogram of salep.

Scientists have warned that demand for the orchid tubers is too great for the current stock. “The orchids in Turkey are under very serious threat,” botanist Ozdemir Ozhatay of Istanbul University told BBC World Service’s Outlook programme.

Environmental campaigners are calling for a ban on the sale of ice-cream containing salep, at least while stocks recover.

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