Bidyut Nath Reward Points : 22200 Member Since : Friday, March 27, 2009
Orchid is a beautiful but rare flower found in few places of India like in the North Eastern state Arunachal Pradesh. Can anyone add some more about this beautiful flower?
Orchids from 9% of our flora and are the largest botanical family of higher plants in India. It is estimated that about 1,300 species 140 genera of orchids are found in our country with Himalayas as their main home and others scattered in Eastern and western Ghats Some of the Indian orchid species which are of high ornamental value are : Aerides crispum, A. fieldingii, A. multiflorum, A. odoratum, Anaectochilus roxburghii , Arachnis clarkei, Arundina graminifolio, Bulbophyllum leopardinum, Calanthe masuca, Coelogyne elatn, C. devonianum, Cymbidium pendulum, C. longifolium, C. munronianum, Dendrobium aggregatum, D. aphyllum, D. fimbriatum, D. jenkinsii, D. moschatum, D. nobile, Paphiopedilum faireanum, P. venstum, P. hirsutissium, p. insigne, Phaius wallichii, Pleione praecox, Rhynchostylis retusa, Thunia alba, Vanda cristata, V. coerulea and V. coerulescens.
Posted On : 4/7/2009 1:36:57 AM
Riya Sen [Guru] Reward Points : 93800 Member Since : Tuesday, December 16, 2008
A certain magic has always surrounded the orchids for centuries and they are undoubtedly one of the most charming members of the plant kingdom. With the availability of the modem production technologies, they can now be accessed by large group of people. It was said that, whenever you see an orchid flower, you will end up matching them with a scorpion, a dancing girl, a lady s slipper, a monkey, a spider, a butterfly, a moth or, the frightful Dracula and many more forms. Thus, enchanted by these dazzling and fascinating flowers, in the 19th century, the affluent started planting them in their lawns. Holidaying in Arunachal Pradesh and without being taken in by the charm of orchid garden, is really a wasted trip. Arunachal Pradesh situated in the extreme North East corner of India with an enchanting land of rich, varied and colorful flora and fauna has about 601 of the 1,700 species of orchids that are available in India. Arunachal Pradesh, which also happens to be the State Flower , is the Orchid Paradise of our country, and now offers great opportunity to promote nature tourism in the state. Though some of them fade as soon as the work of nature in making them is over but they usually live long up to 14-21 days. Others may last weeks or even months. Individual blossoms of the orchid Grammatophyllum multiflorum retain their freshness for up to nine months in a greenhouse. Not surprisingly they are a product that can be profitably grown and exported. The importance of orchids has been recognized by the Government of Arunachal Pradesh which has established an Orchid Research Centre at Tipi on way to Bomdila in West Kameng District to promote its conservation and research for development. This centre has established a laboratory for orchid s seed and tissue culture for this purpose.
Posted On : 4/7/2009 2:28:15 AM
Vikas Chaturvedi Reward Points : 14100 Member Since : Thursday, December 20, 2007
Acampe is a genus of seven orchid species distributed from tropical Africa to India, eastwards to China and southwards to Malaya, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea. The name Acampe was derived from the Greek word akampas, meaning rigid , referring to the little, brittle, inflexible flowers. These species produce slow-growing, medium-sized vines that form very large vegetative masses in nature. They are noted for their thick, leathery, distichous leaves. They produce fragrant small to medium-sized yellow flowers, barred with brown stripes, in a few to many-flowered racemose inflorescence. The brittle sepals and petals look alike. The ear-shaped, fringed, white labellum lip is saccate sac-shaped or has a spur, and has red markings at its base. The fleshy column is short and has two waxy pollinia. Due to their large size and small flowers, they are rarely cultivated. Acampe praemorsa is native to India and Srilanka.
ORCHIDS, the most beautiful flowers in god s creation, comprise a unique group of plants. Taxonomically, they represent the most highly evolved family among monocotyledons with 600-800 genera and 25,000-35,000 species . Orchids exhibit an incredible range of diversity in size, shape and colour of their flowers. They are most pampered of the plants and occupy top position among all the flowering plants valued for cut flower production and as potted plants. They are known for their longer lasting and bewitchingly beautiful flowers which fetch a very high price in the international market.
Posted On : 4/11/2009 4:51:15 AM
Ragamala Chakraborty Reward Points : 45200 Member Since : Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Let me share the history of Orchids with you all.............................Theophrastus, who is also called the father of botany 370-285 BC , gave the name ORCHIDS to the group of bizarre plants on the basis of the resemblance of paired underground tubers of these plants to masculine anatomy the testes . This resemblance was also responsible for the mistaken belief that the orchids posses aphrodisiac properties and eating of underground tubers might provoke venus and they may beget male children. In the Indian Vedic scriptures there is a mention of the plants under the name VANDA , which has been adapted as a generic name in one of the most beautiful group of orchids. Most of the orchids are perennial herbs with simple leaves. Although the specialized flower structure conforms to a standard plan, the vegetative parts are shown great variation, a large number of them being epiphytes, or terrestrial and a few saprophytes and leafless in nature. Majority of the cultivated orchids are native of tropical countries and occur in their greatest diversity in humid tropical forest of South and Central America, Mexico, India, Ceylon, Burma, South China, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, New Guinea and Australia. Brazilian cattleyas, Mexican laelias and Indian dendrobiums, cymbidiums and vandas have played a major role in the development of modern orchid industry in the world. The evolution of orchid culture from hobbyist to commercial grower was very slow as most of the orchids collected from different regions did not adapt to local conditions and died. The methods of propagation were not known and most of the orchids which flowered under utmost care were found to be self sterile. Further, it was difficult to germinate the seeds, which lacks any functional endosperm. The seeds sown in the nursery beds required long period of germination and any disturbance to the soil or physical environment destroyed the whole population. It was only in 1821 when Conrad Loddiges and sons started growing orchid plants commercially at their nursery in Hackney, followed by John Daminy of M/s Veitch & Sons who produced the first orchid hybrid between two Calanthe species in 1852, which flowered in 1856 in Veitch Nursery Exeter, England . This was followed by a large number of man made hybrids produced by hobbyists and small growers. In 1913, Sun Kee Nursery, Singapore, started the first cut-flower production of Arachnis type hybrids. The major developments in cultivation of orchids in the world have been due to modern scientific technology which has been suitably used in case of orchid seed germination and meristem culture. Today orchids are grown on assembly-line method in extensive glasshouses with controlled environment and the sale of orchid flowers runs in millions of dollars. The modern methods of propagation have bought orchid cultivation on par with other commercial crops.
Orchid-a Beautiful Flower
