Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae, a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Earth except glaciers. The world's richest diversity of orchid genera and species is found in the tropics.
Vanda, abbreviated in the horticultural trade as V., is a genus in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. There are 90 species, and the genus is commonly cultivated for the marketplace. This genus and its allies are considered to be among the most specifically adapted of all orchids within the Orchidaceae. The genus is highly prized in horticulture for its showy, fragrant, long-lasting, and intensely colorful flowers. Vanda species are widespread across East Asia, Southeast Asia, and New Guinea, with a few species extending into Queensland and some of the islands of the western Pacific.
Dendrobium is a genus of mostly epiphytic and lithophytic orchids in the family Orchidaceae. It is a very large genus, containing more than 1,800 species that are found in diverse habitats throughout much of south, east and southeast Asia, including China, Japan, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, New Guinea, Vietnam and many of the islands of the Pacific. Orchids in this genus have roots that creep over the surface of trees or rocks, rarely having their roots in soil. Up to six leaves develop in a tuft at the tip of a shoot and from one to a large number of flowers are arranged along an unbranched flowering stem. Several attempts have been made to separate Dendrobium into smaller genera, but most have not been accepted by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families.
The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a 165-year-old tropical garden located at the fringe of the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore. It is one of three gardens, and the only tropical garden, to be honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Botanic Gardens has been ranked Asia's top park attraction since 2013, by TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards. It was declared the inaugural Garden of the Year by the International Garden Tourism Awards in 2012.
× Ascocenda, abbreviated as Ascda in the horticultural trade, was a human-made hybrid orchid genus resulting from a cross between the former genus Ascocentrum and Vanda. It was first described in Orchid Rev. 57: 172 (1949). Ascocentrum is now synonymous with Vanda, so the name is obsolete. Hybrids in the nothogenus × Ascocenda are now properly termed Vanda.
The Armenians in Singapore are a small community who had a significant presence in the early history of Singapore. They were among the earliest merchants to arrive in Singapore were from the British Raj when it was established as a trading port by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819. They numbered around 100 individuals at their peak in the early 1920s, but most have moved on to other countries or become absorbed into the wider Singapore community. Despite their small number, they had an impact in the commercial life of early Singapore and members of the community co-founded the newspaper The Straits Times and built the Raffles Hotel. The Armenian Apostolic Church of St Gregory the Illuminator on Armenian Street, the second church to be built in Singapore, is today the oldest surviving one.
Papilionanthe hookeriana, also known as anggrek pensil in indonesian, or kinta weed, is a species of orchid native to the swamps of Borneo, Malaya, Sumatera, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Ligustrum ovalifolium, also known as Korean privet, California privet, garden privet, and oval-leaved privet, is a species of flowering plant in the olive family Oleaceae. The species is native to Japan and Korea.
Singapore has a wide variety of flora. Plants are mainly used to beautify the landscape of Singapore. The national flower is a hybrid orchid, Vanda Miss Joaquim.
× Renantanda, abbreviated Rntda. in the horticultural trade, is the nothogenus for intergeneric hybrids between the orchid genera Renanthera and Vanda. Its parent plants are both endangered, and have separate breeding seasons, so this hybrid is incredibly rare. Because of that, it is highly marketable.
Spathoglottis plicata, commonly known as the Philippine ground orchid, or large purple orchid is an evergreen, terrestrial plant with crowded pseudobulbs, three or four large, pleated leaves and up to forty resupinate, pink to purple flowers. It is found from tropical and subtropical Asia to Australia and the western Pacific including Tonga and Samoa.
Papilionanthe is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It is native to Southeast Asia, southern China, and the Indian Subcontinent.
Murray Ross Henderson (1899–1982) was a Scottish botanist who did most of his botanical work in the Straits Settlements and South Africa. He took a position as a botanist in Malaya in 1921 and became curator of the herbarium in the Singapore Botanical Gardens in 1924.
Bilateral foreign relations exist between the two countries, Armenia and Singapore. Neither country has a resident ambassador. The Embassy of Armenia in Jakarta, Indonesia is accredited to Singapore. Singapore has no representation in Armenia.
Ashkhen Hovakimian was a Singaporean Armenian who bred Singapore's first hybridised orchid hybrid, Vanda 'Miss Joaquim'. Joaquim was inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame in 2015.
Papilionanthe teres, formerly Vanda teres and Ple. teres in the horticultural trade is an orchid species with many variations found in many parts of South-East Asia and is also found as north as Yunnan and in colder regions like the Himalayan foothills. The variety 'Andersonii' is the pod parent of Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, the national flower of Singapore, the only country to have a hybrid as its national flower.
× Holcosia taiwaniana is a natural hybrid of the orchid species Holcoglossum quasipinifolium and Luisia teres.
Papilionanthe tricuspidata is a species of epiphytic orchid endemic to the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. Its status remains an enigma and some individuals were identified as hybrids involving Papilionanthe teres. The species was described as difficult to flower and only producing small flowers. It occurs sympatric with Vanda limbata and supposedly with "Vanda purpurea", which does not appear to be any known species or synonym. Like all members of the genus, this species bears terete leaves on a slender stem.
Humphrey Morrison Burkill OBE, was a director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens from 1957 to 1969.
Gracia Lewis was a Singaporean orchid enthusiast and the vice-president of the Malayan Orchid Society.
