A Checklist of the Orchids of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India

Author: Veluswamy Anusuba, Maruthakkutty Murugesan, Mohamed Umer Sharief, Bannari Karthik and Ravichandran Tharani

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Abstract

From ages, Orchidaceae is considered to be one of the largest family of flowering plants exhibiting enormous species diversity bearing aesthetic and therapeutic values. In the context of rapid global biodiversity decline, orchids are currently christened to be the most threatened taxa due to enhanced anthropogenic threats, inherent rarity and specific conservation needs. Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR) is the India’s first biosphere reserve and it acts as a connecting link between Western and Eastern Ghats. The present study documents the Orchid diversity of NBR and records about 240 taxa belonging to 72 genera. The species analysis also resulted in enlisting about 113 Indian endemic species belonging to 29 genera, out of which 15 species are strictly endemic to NBR region. It has been observed that most of the orchids are present in the Western Ghats regions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of NBR inhabiting the regions of higher elevations and evergreen high-altitude grasslands and these forests provide conducive atmosphere to the orchids to occupy the pristine environment. The present study records in detail the orchid flora of NBR and also suggests the conservation measures which acts as baseline data which is useful for the garden enthusiasts, researchers and orchid conservators. Endemic orchids have also been marked.

Keywords

Eastern Ghats, Endemic, Orchidaceae, Western Ghats

Conclusion

Orchids are the natural ornamental plants which attract people from diverse groups and Indian orchids are paradoxically victims of their own beauty and popularity (Sangita Das et al, 2021). Peninsular India with its rich orchid diversity, amalgamated with unique topography can be exploited as natural hub for the commercial cultivation of ornamental orchid species both as live materials as well as cut flowers (Jayanthi and Jeewan Singh Jalal, 2023). The present explorations resulted in recording 113 endemic species belonging to 29 genera of which 15 species are strictly endemic to NBR region. Totally 66 species are reported from Tamil Nadu part of NBR, 51 taxa from Kerala part and 25 taxa are from Karnataka part. Most of the dominant species like Habenaria sp., Peristylus sp., are seen in high altitude grasslands, similarly in the Evergreen shola forests, the dominant genera are Oberonia, Porpax, Bulbophyllum, Liparis etc. There are new records like Dendrobium anilii P.M. Salim, J. J. Mathew & Szlach which is an endemic species as a new distributional record for Tamil Nadu (Karuppusamy et al, 2021). Pteroceras viridiflorum (Thwaites) Holttum which is a new record for India collected in Velliangiri hills (Sulaiman et al, 2022). In addition to that Oberonia maxima C.S.P. Parish ex Hook.f., Thrixspermum formosanum (Hayata) Schltr are new records for peninsular India (Kaliamoorthy and Saravanan, 2019). Some of the rare and threatened orchids are Bulbophyllum fuscopurpureum Wight, Bulbophyllum kaitiense (Wight) Rchb.f., Bulbophyllum nodosum (Rolfe) J.J. Sm., Dendrobium anilii P.M. Salim, J. J.Mathew and Szlach, Gastrodia silentvalleyana C.S. Kumar, P.C.S. Kumar, Sibi & S. Anil Kumar, Habenaria polyodon Hook.f. Habenaria richardiana Wight, Plectoglossaperrottetiana (A.Rich.) K.Prasad, Ipsea malabarica (Rchb.f.) Hook.f., Robiquetia josephiana Manilal & C.S. Kumar, Robiquetia gracilis (Lindl.) Garay, etc. From last decade, NBR have witnessed large scale destruction resulting in considerable decline in plant diversity in general and orchid diversity in particular leading to extinction of many of the endemic taxa. Hence, conservation strategies such as in situ, ex situ, cryopreservation, orchidarium maintenance and community efforts assumes greater importance to save the dwindling orchid wealth of NBR. Nevertheless, the present study points out that the orchid flora of NBR provides a baseline data which is very much useful to the horticulturists, garden enthusiasts, researchers and orchid conservators. However, it is obvious that as large number of orchids enjoy an economic status and demand, their exploitation from nature will continue. To reduce this pressure, mass propagation through conventional as well as tissue culture methods would also be an important strategy for orchid germplasm conservation.

References

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How to cite this article

Veluswamy Anusuba, Maruthakkutty Murugesan, Mohamed Umer Sharief, Bannari Karthik and Ravichandran Tharani (2023). A Checklist of the Orchids of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(5): 1274-1292.