A Maliced Mind: Give me more than a picture

Kopou Phool

Every year during this time of April my mail box gets full with mails having picture of this Orchid we Assamese love so much. Every greeting card, calendars, books with love poems, and blog post that has got something to do with Bihu, cannot, not be adorned with a very artistically photographed ‘kapau phool’ it is something we associate ourselves with, something very dear to us.

It has all the right to be so.

‘Kopou, botanically known as Rhynchostylis retusa, is indigenous to this sub Himalayan region and somewhat Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. But region states near Assam probably has climate most conducive for growth of this orchid.

Kopou is a very delicate plant and need a very even watering and fertilizing and cannot withstand extreme heat and dry atmosphere. Probably this is the reason it grows with ease in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

Though this plant may have medicinal value, we Assamese worship it just because of its delicate fragrance and the sheer beauty. It symbolizes love, fertility and merriment and thus we consider it as our State flower and flaunt it all thru the Bihu season.

All verities of orchids are in great demand for decoration, mostly so in the hotel industries. During marriage season people are willing to spend a handsome amount. More the exotic value more will be the value. Most of them imports from Singapore and Thailand.

A hotelier friend had once asked me if I could arrange for a supplier from Assam. it would add to a new variety, and would be economical.

I searched thru Google and following was the result-

Orchid Growers in Assam- four results under nurseries, growers none: three under forum, site not accessible.

Rhynchostylis retusa grower in Bhalukpong- result nill

Rhynchostylis retusa in eBay over fifteen results from Thailand Malaysia and London.

Incredible isn’t it!

We all love this orchid and call it our state flower. And its cultivation is limited to some pathetic back yard or a pot hanging from the corner of our verandah!

Flowers are cultivated commercially all over the world. I shall just not talk of Tulips; it is just beyond our wildest imagination. Marigold is a booming business in Gujarat, The climate of Gujarat does suit growing of Roses. Yet highest supply of roses in the country for Valentine day last year was from Gujarat. The Government gives subsidies for setting up green houses. People would even cultivate on terraces for scarcity of land.

Orchid grower in Kerela

http://www.aarshasree.com/OrchidsAvailable/Projects.html

Cultivation of Kopou alone may not be a viable project considering it flowers for a very short period during spring season. 293 species of orchids grows in Assam amounting to 24% of orchid verities in India.

The only detailed information of these orchids I found was in Bhaskar Boras’s blog http://borabhaskar.blogspot.in/2010/04/orchids-of-lakhimpur-district-and-its_11.html