Naveen inaugurates Orchid House in Nandankanan

Over one thousand orchids, some of them rare and collected from far off countries, displayed at the Orchid House in the Botanical garden of the famous Nandnakanan Zoo here were opened for the general public today.

Spread over 5,000 sq feet, the Orchid House, considered to be the largest in Orissa, was inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in presence of the senior forest officials.

The inauguration of the Orchid House was part of an year-long golden jubilee celebration of the Nandankanan Zoo.

Nandankanan Zoo Director S K Panda said so far 1,050 orchid plants of 154 varieties, including the rare orchids such as jeul, lady slipper and the national flower of Panama, were on display inside the house.

He said the zoo would in future propagate and rehabilitate the orchids in their natural habitats and expand and enrich orchid house with more collections from India and abroad.

Mr Panda said there would be a special section for Orissa where the orchid varieties available in the state would be displayed.

Altogether 132 species of orchids were recorded in Orissa of which only 29 had been displayed inside the Orchid House now.

The Zoo Director said since several varieties of orchids were very much climate sensitive, 60 to 70 varieties of orchids found in Orissa would be collected and displayed inside the Orchid House.

Orissa has also rare collection of orchids displayed in the Regional Plant Reserch Centre(RPRC) at Bhubaneswar and Simlipal Tiger Reserve(STR), besides a small collection in the Zoological garden inside Nandankanan.