"UK's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has recognised... orchid variety found in Manipur. Locally known as Kwaklei Angouba... renamed Vanda coerulea forma luwang alba after its discoverer Luwangba Arambam...
"It is for the first time a white-flowered form of Vanda coerulea from India has been recorder[d] and described" claimed ... The Orchid review, in its July-August issue. Luwangba happened to come across this plant... during a trek at Longa Koireng village in Manipur's Senapati district in February 2002... Kishor, who works for the Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development... identified the flower in 2006. The orchid's flowering season is from September to November and each plant has the capacity to bear 12 to 13 flowers, measuring 7.5 cm in width and 8 cm in length. Manipur has as many as 269 orchid species and there are around 800 orchid varieties in north east India" URL : http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=467924&sid=ENV&ssid=26 ***************** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com