Manipur is a part of the Eastern Himalayan Region. It abounds in diverse forms of flora and fauna including several ornamental and medicinal varieties. Every year the alarming rate of destruction these natural vegetation by the jhum cultivation methods of the hill communities made the Govt. of India aware of the value and importance of the fast vanishing orchids and medicinal plant species. Accordingly the Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB) of Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India established the Orchid Research and Development Centre (ORDC) at Hengbung, Senapati Dist., (a priority area, in Manipur).
Orchid Research & Development Centre
Considerable research progress has been made in the areas of orchidology, Taxonomy, Anotomy, Molecular Biology, Micropropagation and allied fields related to the study of orchids.
During the last three years 20 field surveys have been carried out in Manipur, Arunachal, Sikkim and Nagaland and rescued several endangered orchid species.
Samples of 285 species belonging to 65 genera were gathered and conserved ex-situ in two orchidaria with 16,500 accessions.
So far seven new species of orchid were discovered, viz, Ionekipgenii, Dendrobium tamenglongense, Oberonia oklongensis, Oberonia sp., Cymbidium sp., Flickir geria sp., Oberonia acaulis var. latipetala.