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INTRODUCTION
Orchids are accepted
to be the world’s most exotic and fascinating flowers, with
their extraordinary variety of sizes, shapes, colors and
markings. Because of their curious, long lasting, brilliantly
colored flowers, they are sought after plants by hobbyist and
nurseryman all over the world.
The family of orchids,
one of the highly evolved groups of plants, comprises over
25,000 individual species, with new discoveries being made and
describes every year. The fascinatingly beautiful flowers of
long-lasting quality of certain species and the ease with
which they can be hybridized, has lead to the production of
over 85,000 man made, registered hybrids, thereby establishing
a culture of its own (Freed 1979, Ariditi 1977), further the
discovery of tissue-culture technology and mericloning has
revolutionalised the orchid cultivation and today it is a
lucrative cut-flower industry of considerable economic
importance, elsewhere in the world. Today, far more hybrids
are grown than species, many of which have become very rare.
The hybrids are usually easier for the beginners to grow
successfully because they are vigorous plants able to tolerate
the artificial conditions in the greenhouse home.
As a result of the
wide distribution area, the species vary greatly; they may be
terrestrial (growing on grounds as opposed to water) epiphytes
(growing above the ground, supported non-parasitically by
another plant of object and deriving nutrients and water form
the surrounding air), lithophytes (growing on the surface of
rocks), or even sub-terrainean (growing beneath the surface of
the growing medium). They are sub-cosmopolitan in their
distribution and are widely found in both the tropical and
temperate zones.
For thousand of years
in every continent man has had direct contact with these
plants, obsessed with the beauty of their flowers, attracted
by their heavy perfume or intrigued by the essences that can
be extracted from them.
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Rhododendron
Amongst the many
floral treaties of Sikkim Himalaya one of the earliest ones may be
found over the genus Rhododendron (Gk. rhodo = red, dendrons = tree
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Orchid
Orchid
known for their brilliance in colors, unusual shapes
attractive growth habits, variety in fragrance and
exquisite beauty can attract any nature lovers. |
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Medicinal Plant
Sikkim
with its total geographical area of 7,096 sq km is
bestowed with a huge diversity of flora and fauna. |
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