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From the preface: Orchids are the second most diverse plant group. Most of the orchids are epiphytic in nature, some are terrestrial and few are mycoheterotrophs. There are about 28,000 orchid species known to the world. Indian has around 1256 orchid species. Among the Indian states, Arunachal Pradesh has the highest number of orchids (580 species) and is known as ‘Orchid Paradise’ of the country. Around 40 orchids were discovered from the state out of which 29 are still endemic to the state.

Orchids in Arunachal Pradesh were mostly explored by Orchid Research Centre, Tipi located at Tippi village in West Kameng district. The centre is conserving huge number of native orchids at Tippi (around 100 species) and its sub-nurseries at Sessa (180 species) and Dirang (30 species). Most of the orchids conserved at the Centre were rescued from degraded and cultivated areas, fallen trees, landslide areas and project affected sites.

This book is a compilation of such conserved orchids at Tippi. Sessa and Dirang. This book contains photographs of 288 orchids arranged according to their flowering time (month). Common name of each orchids are provided along with recently accepted botanical names based on molecular studies conducted in various parts of the world.