Where have all the flowers gone? Over-harvesting fuelled by surging market prices is threatening to wipe out several species of wild orchids in eastern China, some of which command as much as $175,000 a pot, state media reported on Friday.

Chinese horticulturalists warned that the lucrative trade had taken 10 species native to mountainous areas of Zhejiang province to the brink of extinction, the China Daily said.

"Excessive harvesting of wild orchids had also led to soil erosion and consequently affected the environment for other plants and animals," the paper quoted an official in the province's Xinchang county as saying.

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Better flowers withering in my household pot than wild in nature!