Written  by london swaminathan

swami_48@yahoo.com

Date: 1 March 2019

GMT Time uploaded in London – 16-27

Post No. 6139

Pictures shown here are taken  by London swaminathan

This is a non- commercial blog. ((posted by swamiindology.blogspot.com AND tamilandvedas.com))

My Visit to Orchid Flower Show in London

I went to Orchid flower show in London Kew Gardens on 26-2-2019. The world-famous Royal Botanical Gardens in London organised a three week Orchid Flower show in February- March 2019. This year they featured the orchid flowers from the Colombian Rain forests.

 Kew Gardens is famous for its preservation of seeds of plants around the world and its database with all the details of the plant world.

With over 8.5 million items, Kew houses the largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world. They represent approximately 95% of vascular plant genera and 60% of fungal genera.

There are over 28,000 different orchids in the world. Of them 4800 orchids are found in the tropical rain forests of Colombia which is known for its coffee, drugs and the largest snake Anaconda in addition to its birds and butterflies. Next to Brazil it has the most diverse flora and fauna.

Orchids are rare flowers that grow in the hot and humid rains forests. They are beautiful, rare, precious and asymmetrical in shapes. They grow in the crevices in rocks and trees. They have aerial roots unlike normal plants. Before they started growing orchids in glass houses commercially each flower was selling for a big price. Famous Vanilla comes from the orchids.

I was fortunate to visit the orchidarium in Kodaikanal and Yercaud   (In Tamil Nadu, India) as part of our botanical tour nearly fifty years ago. We collected Vanda and other orchids for our botany lab in Madura college, Madurai, Tamil Nadu.

I am attaching some pictures taken by me on 26-2-2019 in London.