Apathy dogs Manipur orchid preservation centre

IMPHAL, April 20: The Orchid Preservation Centre put up at Khongampat with the primary objective of rearing orchids found abundantly in the hills is now in a sorry state of affairs thanks to Government apathy and lack of patronage. Official of the centre said the number and variety of orchids at the moment is only 195. With no Government aid forthcoming the centre has not been able to rear and preserve a number of orchids. The centre was set up by the State Forest Department in 1976 and stands on a 50 hectare campus. Its primary objective is to rear and preserve the rare orchids found in hills and forest of Manipur. Research work pertaining to the species of the orchids is also one of the stated objectives of the centre. At the moment 195 species including some very rare species of orchids are being preserved at the centre. However with the state government showing little or no interest at all the number of species has not increased and no exploration work has been taken up to find rare species. Botanists said the State is richly endowed with a variety of orchids and they put the number of species to be found here at 500. Moreover botanists are certain that they may be good umber of hitherto undetected orchid species in the hinterland of Manipur. According to the findings of the Botanical Survey of India Arunachal Pradesh has the highest number of species of orchids with Manipur a close second. The Centre has set up the Botanical Survey of India at Shillong and Kolkata to study and find out the different species of orchids in the country. In the event of the failure of the Botanical Survey of India to identify or classify a species then the same is sent to the Royal Floriculture Society, London. The rare orchids at Khongampat include Vanda Coerulea (Kwaklei), Paphiupedium Spicerianum (Khongup Lei), Dendrobium Nobile Lindle (Yerum Lei), Pleime Paraecox (Tilhou Lei), Dendrobium Thrysiflurum (Melei Leisna Nongjumpal), Dendrobium Chryssotoxum and Ascocentrum Ampulaceum (Nachom Lei).