Three new additions to the orchid flora of Manipur, Northeast India

The state of Manipur has a unique geographical position and is rich in biological flora and fauna. Manipur also harbours a rich diversity of orchid species represented by 91 genera and 390 species. The present investigation on the orchids of Manipur, three interesting orchid species, viz. Epipogium roseum (D. Don) Lindl., Habenaria pantlingiana Kraenzl., Liparis deflexa Hook.f. were collected and reported for the first time in the orchid flora of Manipur. All three taxa belong to terrestrial ground orchids and one species, i.e., E. roseum, is a leafless, mycotrophic terrestrial orchid. In Manipur, the genus Habenaria Willd. and Liparis Rich. are represented by 11 species each, while the genus Epipogium Borkh. is a new generic addition to the orchid diversity of Manipur and a new extension of distributional records. Epipogium and Habenaria orchids were collected from Pudunamei village, Senapati district, while Liparis orchid was collected from Kachai village, Ukhrul district, Manipur. With the addition of these three taxa, the state of Manipur records a total of 393 species and 92 genera of orchid taxa. This data reveals the rich diversity of orchid species in the state of Manipur. Detailed morphological descriptions and colour photographs were provided for easy identification.