NeBIO An international journal of environment and biodiversity Vol. 8, No. 3, September 2017, 191-225 ISSN 2278-2281(Online Version) ☼ www.nebio.in CHECKLIST Ex situ conservation of orchids of Northeast India in Botanical Garden and National Orchidarium, Botanical Survey of India, Eastern Regional Centre, Shillong, Meghalaya, India - An updated checklist. M. Murugesan*, L. R. Meitei, A.A. Mao, E. Wahlang & C. Lyngwa Botanical Survey of India, Eastern Regional Centre, Shillong-793003, Meghalaya, India. ABSTRACT The paper deals with ex situ conservation of orchids in Botanical Garden, Barapani and National Orchidarium of Botanical Survey of India, Eastern Regional Centre, Shillong, Meghalaya, India. A total of four hundred and nineteen species of orchids belonging to ninety four genera collected from different states of North-east India and conserved in the Botanical Garden and National Orchidarium. Each species is given with scientific name, place of collection, flowering fruiting period, habitat and IUCN status if any are provided. To facilitate easy and correct identification, as many as 198 species colour photographs are provided. KEYWORDS: Ex situ conservation, Orchids, Botanical Garden, National Orchidarium, Botanical Survey of India, Shillong, North-east India. Received 20 July 2017, Accepted 26 August 2017 I *Corresponding Author: [email protected] Introduction India is considered as one of the most distinct and diverse Sikkim, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh) and Indo-Burma (areas of biogeographic regions of the world. The mainland India is physio- north-east India mainly the southern part of the Brahmaputra geographically divided into three parts i.e. the Himalayan, the River covering parts of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland Indo-Gangetic plain and Peninsular/Deccan region (Chowdhery, and Tripura). These regions are very rich in endemic plant species, 2009). Chowdhery and Murti (2000) recognised 11 biogeographical which are at risk of extinction because of various anthropogenic regions in India. North-east India is one among them and is the pressure on natural habitats (Pal and Singh, 2016). most important biogeographic zone as it is the meeting point of Himalayan mountains with peninsular India. North-east India is a North-eastern states of India are very rich in genetic resources, part of 34 biodiversity hotspots of the world (Mittermeier et al. including orchids. These genetic resources are vanishing very fast 2003) comprising of eight states viz., Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, due to anthropogenic pressure and various developmental Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura and activities are being undertaken in this region. The endemic orchids it lies between 87°32ʹE to 97°52ʹE latitude and 21°34ʹN to are the most vulnerable to such activities, because they have 29°50ʹN latitude. North-eastern states of India constitute limited distribution, poor adaptability, and often population size is approximately 7.7% of India’s total geographical area of 262,251 very small, hence there is an urgent need to direct the research Km2 (Rao, 1997) and supports about 50% of the angiospermic efforts to understand population biology, population genetics, flora, of which about 32% are endemic to this region (Rao, 1997; ecology, and mass multiplication techniques for protection of Rao, 2007; De and Medhi, 2014; De et al. 2016). these species in nature as well as bringing them into cultivation. The north-eastern region shares its boundary with China in the The orchids belong to the family Orchidaceae constitute second north, Myanmar in the east, Bhutan to the North-west, and largest family of flowering plants and composed of five Bangladesh to the southwest. Physio-geographically, the North- subfamilies, 890 genera and more than 25,000-30,000 species in east India can be divided into three divisions namely, the the world (Cribb et al. 2003; Chowdhery, 2009) which constitutes Meghalaya Plateau, North-eastern hills and the Brahmaputra about 10% of angiospermic plant species of the world (Dressler, Valley. The North-eastern hills constitute approximately 65% of 1981). They are very beautiful and unique and also one of the the total landmass of the North-eastern states of India. This most ecological and evolutionary significant plants and have region is unique, because here the landmass of the southern successfully colonized almost every habitat on Earth. They are hemisphere meets with that of the northern hemisphere and found growing in all habitats except glaciers. North-east India is forms a transition zone (Singh, 2010). The altitude of this region home for about 950 species belonging to 165 genera of orchids ranges between ca. 100 and ca. 7000 m above the sea level and out of the 1350 species belonging to 186 genera which are climate ranges from tropical to alpine. There are two biodiversity reported from India so far. As many as 404 out of 1350 species of hotspots in this region namely Himalayan (covering the states of orchids are endemic to India (Misra, 2007; Hegde, 2017). Also a © 2017. NECEER, Imphal. All rights reserved CHECKLIST Murugesan et al » Ex situ conservation of orchids of NE India in BSI-Eastern Regional Centre, Shillong - An updated checklist » NeBIO 8(3): 191-225 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- number of new species being described every year from this Nepenthes House, Medicinal plants, Zingiber, Cyathea, region. Out of 404 species which are endemic to India, 209 Bambusetum, Piper, Citrus, Musa and Wild edible fruits. Also, the species and 6 varieties belonging to 52 genera are endemic in garden possesses an aquatic pond for the conservation of aquatic North-east region. (Pal and Singh, 2016; Hegde, 2017). As many plants. Few dominant genera of orchids which are conserved in as 34 species of orchids from North-east India are listed among the garden are Dendrobium (40 spp.), Bulbophyllum (18 spp.) the threatened plants of India (Nayar and Sastry, 1987, 1988, Coelogyne (17 spp.), Cymbidium (11 spp.), Liparis (10 spp.), 1990; Ahmedullah et al. 1999) and 85 species are endemic to this Oberonia (08 spp.), Paphiopedilum (5 spp.) etc. Besides, many region (Das and Deori, 1983). interesting terrestrial orchids are also conserved. The diversity and population of orchid is decreasing due to human National Orchidarium, Botanical Survey of India, Eastern Regional activities such as habitat destruction, degradation and Centre, Shillong fragmentation and over harvesting of selected orchids for National Orchidarium was established in 1959 to conserve the commercial trade (Pant et al., 1999). The increase in population vast wild orchid germplasm. Presently about 300 species of led to increase in demand for food, shelter etc. thus clearing of orchids collected from different parts of north-east India are under forest areas for cultivation, timber, industries, etc. has been conservation in the Orchidarium and office premises. Some of the increasing rapidly destroying many natural habitats (Medhi and noteworthy genera which are conserved are Dendrobium (35 spp.), Chakrabarti, 2009). Orchids are very sensitive to environmental Bulbophyllum (21 spp.) Coelogyne (18 spp.), Cymbidium (14 spp.), change and are a subject of great concern at present for their Liparis (12 spp.), Oberonia (11 spp.), Paphiopedilum (7 spp.) etc. conservation (Medhi and Chakrabarti, 2009; De et al. 2012). All Besides, many interesting species like Anoectochilus brevilabris, the species of family Orchidaceae are listed in the Appendix II of A. roxburghii, Acanthephippium sylhetense, Armodorum Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild senapatianum, Bulbophyllum rothschildianum, Cymbidium Fauna and Flora (CITES) (Chugh et al. 2009). The genus dayanaum, Neogyna gardneriana, Paphiopedilum venustum, P. Paphiopedilum (10 spp.) and Renanthera imschootiana from this fairrieanum, Renanthera imschootiana etc. are also conserved in region are included in Appendix I. To prevent the loss of orchid this orchidarium. species which have been facing threat of extinction, special conservation measures through ex situ method is needed (Sinha et al. 2017). In view of these facts many of the orchid species collected from their natural habitats are being introduced in both Botanical Garden, Barapani as well as National Orchidarium, Shillong. Ex situ conservation “Ex situ conservation involves preservation and maintenance of samples of living organisms outside their natural habitat, in the form of whole plants, seeds, pollen, vegetative propagules, tissue or cell cultures. These techniques are generally used to complement in situ conservation, but in some cases they are the only possible techniques to conserve certain species” (Ramsay et al., 2000). Among the various ex situ conservation methods the most common are cultivation in botanic gardens, seed storage, and in vitro cultivation. Orchids are one of the economically important group of plants for their uses in floriculture, medicine and food industries. Botanical gardens serve as "Refugio" for many natural plants that are dwindle in their natural habitat and is one of the best ex situ conservation method for orchid germplasm (Sinha et al. 2017). Botanical Garden, Botanical Survey of India, Eastern regional Centre, Shillong. The Botanical Garden is located about 22 km away from Shillong near Umiam Lake