Orchids in India: The Total Orchid Experience
Posted by Just Add Ice Orchids... It's Just That Simple. on Fri, Feb 19, 2010
The Orchid is An Ecotel Hotel in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and is Asia's first certified eco-friendly five-star hotel with 63 international awards to its credit. The exclusivity of The Orchid is experienced as soon as one enters the atrium with its 70-foot indoor waterfall.
Around the waterfall on the first level is the Boulevard, the 24-hour coffee shop. The beautiful orchids growing there give you a true feel of an Orchid experience.
Or, if you’d be more interested visiting India’s orchid gardens, you’ll have a lot of ground to cover! India is a huge country and therefore for the purposes of identifying orchids has been divided into three main zones: The Himalayan Region, The Peninsular Region and The Andaman & Nicobar Islands Region.
The Himalayan region is dominated by 3,000 miles of mountains, including Mt. Everest, the tallest peak in the world. There are valleys too, which means that the region has alpine, temperate and tropical vegetation. There are around 876 species in 151 genera. But the tropical zone is where you’ll find Phalaenopsis orchids, along with Vanda, Dendrobium, and several others.
The Peninsular Zone is divided into East and West, and each can be further subdivided into three distinct zones. The pressure from the increasing population has stripped the mid-elevation forests, and the lack of forest cover could mean imminent extinction of many species of plants. In the Western Region alone there are about 315 orchid species, 4 sub species and 3 varieties in 75 genera are reported.
In the Andaman & Nicobar Islands there are a record number of 104 species, 1 subspecies and 1 variety in 53 genera. It has been reported that around 16 species and one variety are endemic. Continuous deforestation has resulted in the loss of many endemic species, and unless measures are taken, we may lose some rare and wonderful orchid species.