At Kaziranga, 2 km from Kohora, you must visit the orchidarium and biodiversity park. We just got a few minutes before the place closed down for the evening, but we were guided into the greenhouse by a very charming lady who rattled off the various botanical names with such passion. And it turned out that she was studying economics and not botany. The orchidarium houses more than 500 species of orchids. As luck would have it not all orchids had blossomed at this time of the year. A month later it will be more stunning, we were told. Yet here is a glimpse of some of the orchids we saw.
Did you know that the name orchid comes from the Greek word ‘orchis’ which means testicle?This orchid is a pink Vanda orchid. The name Vanda comes from the Sanskrit word वन्दाकाGolden flowered dendrobiumAnthuriumRenanthera orchids. The name Renanthera is a combination of the Latin “renis” meaning kidney, and the Greek “anthera” or anther, and refers to the distinct kidney shape of the pollinia, characteristic of this genus.
