NATURE’S HIDDEN GEM - THE DOVE ORCHID

NATURE’S HIDDEN GEM

THE DOVE ORCHID

"A picture they say is worth a thousand words". This one, I promise you, is worth much more than a thousand words. 

Look at this stunning picture of one of nature’s hidden gems –THE DOVE ORCHID. 

Botanical Name: Peristeria elata, photographed in the Horticultural Nursery and Garden of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. The beautiful 400-acre wooded campus of the Indian Institute of Science is “A Botanist’s Delight”.

Native to Panama, Costa Rica and Trinidad, the first plants of the genus Peristeria, found their way to England in 1826 and were flowered in 1831.

It was British botanist, William J Hooker, who named it Peristeria, after the Greek word peristerion meaning "from dove”, due to the likeness of a dove that appears in the flowers. Per is the official orchid abbreviation for this genus.

The orchid flowers bloom in July-August are mildly fragrant (smell of mild beer) and last for about two months.

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