Taiwan Today

Flowers blooming colorfully, fading gloomily—phenomena of nature. Through the ages, man has dreamed of preserving flowers in their fullest bloom forever, but in the past succeeded mostly in just imitating them. Lin Kuo-pi, a businessman in international trade and a graduate agricultural chemist, after marathon experiments, has realized the "impossible dream." After graduating from the Depart­ment of Agricultural Chemistry of National Chung Hsing University, Lin served his alma mater as an assistant researcher in a study of freezing processes for vegetables. Then, he left the school and applied his efforts to producing pre­ served plants and exploiting his interna­tional business. Last month, Lin staged an exhibition of preserved blooms and plants at the Taiwan Provincial Museum. Visitors marveled over the vivid beauty of the flowers; many touched and probed to prove their reality. Among the rare beauties on display were the delicate efflorescences of a species of night blooming cereus. This flower blossoms only at midnight, then starts to fade with the first dawn. Nearby was a gorgeous scarlet orchid. Insectivor­ous plants, strangely shaped and tinted, and a mimosa species known as sensitive plant that closes its leaves when touched, were among the foliage specimens. The growth of cotton was demonstrated: budding at 96 days, blossoming at 107 days, fruiting at 116 days, ripe cotton at 122 days. Lin circled through the show hall, enthusiastically responding to visitors' questions, often with a brief lecture: "For years, scientists have been involved in studying the 'best' way to pre­serve flora for academic or decorative purposes. And they did find some solutions. However, because plants contain various, complicated ingredients, no satisfactory method could be applied to all plants. Specimens of flora always changed color, leaves fell, fruits dropped." "The drying method has been the most common commercially—flattening leaves or blooms between papers and drying them at 40°C for 24 hours. But, there are always color changes and shrinkage. Another method is submer­sion of the specimen in silica gel for seven days-the moisture in the flower is absorbed by the gel. Via this method, the shapes and colors of most specimens can be maintained. But there is a major shortcoming: The specimen must be kept in a sealed box to keep it from oxidizing. A third technique is to seal the flower in a polyester resin after it has been subjected to the seven-day silica gel process. But regretfully, the tissues are burned by the polyester resin and the color changed." Before going over his own process, Lin added, "There will be better techniques to preserve plants in the future, for sure. But, to this point, I am confident my invention is the best." Lin's process requires rapid freezing of the specimen, taking it from normal temperatures to -40°C within 30 minutes. If the freezing process is slowed, the plants may wither. The plant specimen is then subjected to a depressurizing process, so that ice on the surface of the plant is drawn off as moisture, and the specimen itself dehydrated until only 8-10 percent of its original water content is left. The most important step is perme­ation of the dehydrated specimen with a special preservative, a mixture of ether and paraffin oil. The ether evaporates, leaving paraffin as the filler in the plant. Finally, the specimen is reshaped. The whole process takes eight hours. At the laboratory of Lin's plant, seven researchers and 28 technicians pursue improved process techniques. A dozen women in a -40°C, refrigerated workroom went through rigorous physi­cal examinations before being hired on. They are required to do regular physical exercises to help them withstand the freezing cold, but exceedingly humid environment. When they sign their two­ year work contracts, they also agree not to put on nor lose weight, since their expensive, protective work uniforms-like astronaut's suits-are individually tail­ored to fit. Donning the three-layer suits takes 20 minutes, and once the women put them on, they do not take them off until a 2.5-hour work session is finished. Lin remarked, "Most people consider -40°C not all that cold. But remember, human beings normally accommodate them­selves to a freezing environment in a gradual process. Suddenly entering a -40°C environment from normal condi­tions may result in the extremities-fingers, ears, and nose-freezing. Then there is no feeling in them, so you can damage them without being aware." Exporting quality floral decorations is Lin's main business. He does institute tougher quality controls when he is producing specimens for academic/scientific purposes though, being less concerned with beauty in this case than original specimen characteristics. Lin's process was once abortively challenged by a dried flower company in the United States, which sued Lin for counterfeiting its product. Lin won the lawsuit in a walk when he demonstrated the difference in the products: Pinching his competitor's flowers in court, he showed how its dried roses simply crumbled into pieces. Lin's preserved roses when pinched, did not even lost their shape because of their high elasticity. Lin said with pride, "They wanted to believe I was counterfeiting, but the evidence showed that I do not and do not need to engage in such dishonorable activities. Through our special wax infiltration process, our plant specimens not only pre­serve their shape and color, but their elasticity." Lin filed for patents in the Republic of China, the United States, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia. His firm now exports 200,000 units of preserved flower arrangements abroad annually. Recently, the costs of silk and other quality artificial flowers have dropped significantly lower than for Lin's preserved flowers. Lin's research team, according­ly, has concentrated on techniques to im­prove the quality of his products-to more precisely control pH factors and freezing times so the "real-faces" of his specimens are not altered. The goal is to shift the firm's emphasis from decorative arrangements to flora specimens. Lin has been working with the ROC Ministry of Education on production of preserved flora specimens for distribution islandwide to primary schools. Lin sketched the near-future: "Before long, our kids will be able to observe rare plants via accurately preserved specimens, rather than by means of the lifeless, flattened samples of the past."