  In this paper I give a short review of some properties of the colossal
magnetoresistance manganites, connected with the orbital degrees of freedom.
Ions Mn{3+}, present in most of these compounds, have double orbital degeneracy
and are strong Jahn-Teller ions, causing structural distortions and orbital
ordering. Mechanisms leading to such ordering are shortly discussed, and the
role of orbital degrees of freedom in different parts of the phase diagram of
manganites is described. Special attention is paid to the properties of
low-doped systems (doping 0.1 - 0.25), to overdoped systems (x > 0.5), and to
the possibility of a novel type of orbital ordering in optimally doped
ferromagnetic metallic manganites.
