The disappearing wild orchids of North Bengal

Source: The post is based on the article “The disappearing wild orchids of North Bengal” published in Down To Earth on 18th June 2023

What is the News?

Epiphytic orchids found in the Dooars and Darjeeling hills are dying out because of deforestation in their natural habitat.

What are Orchids?

Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae, a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.

Orchids are natural gauges of air quality because they don’t grow in polluted air. They draw pollinators like bees and other insects to their nectar and thereby help cross-pollination. 

Orchids are broadly categorized into three life forms: 1) epiphytic (plants growing on another plants including those growing on rock boulders and often termed lithophyte) These are not parasitic 2) Terrestrial (plants growing on land and climbers) and 3) mycoheterotrophic (plants which derive nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi that are attached to the roots of a vascular plant).

About Orchids in India

According to the Botanical Survey of India’s Orchids of India: A Pictorial Guide, India has over 1200 species of Orchids.

There are 388 species of orchids, which are endemic to India of which about one-third (128) endemic species are found in the Western Ghats. 757 (60%) of all orchids found in India are epiphytic, 447 are terrestrial and 43 are mycoheterotrophic.

The Himalayas, North-East parts of India and Western Ghats are the hot-spots of orchids.

The highest number of orchid species is recorded from Arunachal Pradesh followed by Sikkim and West Bengal. 

Protection status:

The entire orchid family is listed under appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and hence any trade of wild orchid is banned globally.