All about orchids in new book

Orchids are stellar and omnipresent, new book that documents the plant group says

Prized for their beauty and often symbolised as luxurious, orchids have captivated nature lovers and gardening enthusiasts. But orchids are stellar and omnipresent, says a new book that documents the plant group.

The newly released inventory of India’s orchids, ‘A Checklist of the Orchidaceae of India,’ was published by the Missouri Botanical Garden. André Schuiteman, B. R. Kailash (a researcher at the Bengaluru-based Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment), and Uttam Babu Shrestha are the authors. The project is supported by the Department of Biotechnology, India, SMS Family Foundation, Chris Davidson Fund, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, National Biodiversity Mission and Human Wellbeing, and the Government of India.

“The comprehensive book on the orchids provides detailed taxonomic status and distribution of 1234 species of one of the largest groups of beautiful flowering plants. This book opens up a large unexplored diversity of orchids in India and is a treasure for not just taxonomists but for all interested in orchids.” said G. Ravikanth, Acting Director of ATREE.

An ATREE release explained that orchids constitute a “stellar” plant group among the flowering plants known for their spectacular morphological features by colour, shape, and size. “Evolutionarily and ecologically, orchids are a fascinating plant group due to their unique and diverse habitats ranging from dark wet forest understory to forest canopy as epiphytes. Orchids’ mutualistic association with fungal partners could be one of the major reasons they thrive in diverse habitats,” the release said.

Similarly, their pollination mechanism is yet another enigmatic evolutionary feature that makes them omnipresent, it said. The history of Indian orchids in the printed forms goes back to van Rheede’s Hortus Malabaricus (1678-1703). As in other plant groups, Carl Linnaeus recognised many Indian orchids from Rheede’s work from the Western Ghats.

“Plant collectors, orchid enthusiasts, and botanists have contributed plenty continuously over several centuries about the Indian orchids, especially those present in India’s the Western Ghats and NE region, which are part of the global biodiversity hotspots. The nomenclature of the orchid species always played a critical role in enumerating the number of orchid species and their distribution in the Indian region. The inconsistencies in the name of the orchid species and their distribution remain a contentious issue among botanists and conservation biologists,” said the release. 

The linkages between the stable names, distribution, and population status are vital for the sustainable management of bioresources from the wild such as orchids. The Checklist of Orchidaceae of India can contribute to the efforts of India to fulfill various commitments, including documenting the biodiversity of India, it added.