Commemorative Stamps on Orchids – 8th August 2016.

Department of Posts has issued a set of 6 Stamps, Miniature Sheet and Sheetlets on six species of Orchids found in India. Two each stamps are in denomination of Rs. 5, Rs. 15 and RS. 25 respectively. Species depicted on stamps are Esmeralda cathcartii (Lindl.) Rchb.f., Dendrobium gibsoni Lindl., Cypripedium himalaicum Rolfe, Paphiopedilum villosum (Lindl.) Stein, Esmeralda clarkei Rchb.f. and Dendrobium falconeri Hook.

Esmeralda cathcartii (Lindl.) Rchb.f. 

Common Name is Cathcart's Arachnanthe. Flower Size is 7.5 to 8.75 cm. It is found in the northeastern India, Sikkim, eastern Himalayas, Nepal, Bhutan in tropical broadleaf forests near streams in cool shade at elevations of 600 to 2000 meters this genus was formerly known as Esmeralda cathcartii. It is a giant sized, warm to cool growing, vandanaceous, epiphytic plant with an elongate stem carrying alternate, oblong, coriaceous leaves that blooms in the spring and summer on a stout, axillary, 18 cm long, pendulous or horizontal, 3 to 6 flowered inflorescence with waxy, very fragrant, long-lived.

Dendrobium gibsonii Lindl.

Common Name is Gibson's Dendrobium. Flower Size is 3 to 5 cm. It is found in Himalaya, Assam (India), Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, China and Vietnam at elevations of 650 to 1650 meters as a large sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte or lithophyte on mossy limestone cliffs with centrally swollen, tapering towards the apex, pendulous, ribbed stems carrying 6 to 10, ovate to lanceolate, acute, deciduous leaves that bloom in the spring and summer on a slightly fractiflex, nodding to pendulous, 15 to 20 cm long, loosely 6 to 15 flowered inflorescence arising on older leafless canes.

Cypripedium himalaicum Rolfe

Common Name is the Himalayan Cypripedium. Flower Size is 7.5 cm. It is found from the Chinese Himalayas, eastern Himalayas, western Himalayas, Jammu-Kashmir, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh (India), Nepal and Bhutan as a small sized, cold to cool growing terrestrial in thin stony soils in open woodland clearings, under small shrubs on steep hillsides, among grass-clad limestone boulders in crevasses at elevations of 2000 to 5000 meters with a short, erect, sparsely pubescent stem carrying 3 to 4, deciduous, ovate-elliptic to oblong, acute, slightly pubescent on upper surface, glabrous underneath leaves that blooms in the late spring and summer on a erect, pubescent, single flowered, to 20 cm long inflorescence with waxy, brittle, very fragrant flowers and no subtending leafy bract.

Paphiopedilum villosum (Lindl.) Stein

Common Name is the Hirsute Paphiopedilum. Flower Size is 12.5 to 15 cm. This large sized, cool to cold growing, clump forming humus epiphytic species or rare lithophyte with clear yellow green leaves is found in Assam (India), Myanmar, Thailand; Southern China, Laos and Vietnam in primary, evergreen, wet, closed, mixed and broadleafed, highland cloud forests on tree forks or clumps of ferns 10 to 15 meters above the ground or rarely on cliff faces as a lithophyte at altitudes of 1100 to 2100 meters in areas with abundant rainfall. This species is characterized by having 4 to 5 narrowly lanceolate to linear-ligulate, suberect, dark yellow green, purple spotted beneath near the base of the leaves and is unequally, acutely bilobed apically. It blooms on a suberect to arcuate, terminal, to 30 cm long, dark green with purple, pubescent inflorescence with an elliptic, glabrous, green spotted maroon floral bract that is as long as the ovary and a single, glossy flower in the fall. In India it is found in Assam.

Esmeralda clarkei Rchb.f.

Common Name is Clark's Arachnanthe. Flower size is 5.5 to 7.5 cm. It is found in Assam, eastern Himalayas (India), Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Myanmar, Thailand and southern China on rocks along valleys or on tree trunks in open forests at elevations 1500 to 2000 meters as a large to giant sized, cool growing, monopodial epiphyte or lithophyte with an elongate pendant stem carrying oblong-lorate, coriaceous leaves that blooms in the fall to late winter on a 20 cm long, 3 to 4 flowered inflorescence with slightly fragrant flowers.

Dendrobium falconeri Hook

Common Name is Falconer's Dendrobium. Flower Size is 5 to 10 cm. It is found in India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Sikkim), Chinese Himalayas, eastern Himalayas, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand and Taiwan as a large sized, cool to warm growing epiphyte on lightly shaded branches or tree trunks in dense forests or on rocks along valleys at elevations of 800 to 1900 meters with pendant, branching, knotty, soft, slender stems that frequently form roots at the nodes and grow into a tangled mess. The few, linear, grass-like, quickly deciduous leaves arise on new growth at the apex and blooms on a very short, single flowered inflorescence that arises all along the old and new canes with a single, fragrant flower that lasts about 2 weeks occurring in the spring.