Gastrochilus pechei, a new orchid recorded from Arunachal Pradesh’s Vijoynagar.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
India’s orchid family has a new member recorded in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Gastrochilus pechei was known to bloom only in Myanmar. A trio of researchers have established its existence at an altitude of 1,200 meters in Vijoynagar, one of the country’s remotest administrative circles bordering Myanmar.
The researchers are Vinay Kumar Sahani and Minom Pertin of the Society for Education and Environmental Development based in Changlang town, and Khyanjeet Gogoi of the eastern Assam-based Regional Orchids Germplasm Conservation and Propagation Centre.
Their findings have been published in the latest issue of Lankesteriana, an international journal from Costa Rica.
The researchers said they collected fresh plant material during a botanical excursion in September 2024. It was identified based on available literature and critical examination of the shape of flowers’ sepals and petals.
First recorded in 1825, Gastrochilus is a monopodial orchid genus comprising 77 species widely distributed in tropical, subtropical, and temperate Asia. This genus is characterised by a short axillary inflorescence, often with brightly coloured flowers, a distinct epichile on the front of the saccate hypochile, and two porate, globose pollinia that are borne on a slender stipe.
The researchers noted that the Gastrochilus pechei flowers in September-October and thrives in moist, evergreen rainforest on small trees near riverbanks.
Before the Vijoynagar find, 22 species of the Gastrochilus genus had been recorded from India. Of these, 15 are from Arunachal Pradesh.
“Gastrochilus is a small genus that can easily be misidentified as other taxa. The Gastrochilus pechei recorded from Changlang provides significant evidence that Myanmar and Arunachal Pradesh are linked due to floristic similarities,” Mr. Pertin said.
In Myanmar, the orchid was recorded in the Nuangmeng town of Kachin’s Putao County.
Often referred to as the Orchid State of India, Arunachal Pradesh boasts approximately 60% of the country’s varieties.
Published – September 01, 2025 10:49 pm IST
