Orchid diversity in the Chitwan district

Abstract

Although the orchids in the Himalayan region are generally well known, there is little or no information on the orchids in the lowlands of Nepal. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the general status and distribution of orchids in one important lowland region, the Chitwan district. The study area included the Chitwan National Park (CNP), Barandabhar corridor forest (BCF) and the Mahabharat range (MR). The orchids in the trees, on rocks and on the ground were recorded along a total of 200 line transects: 40 in the BCF, 105 in the CNP and 55 in the MR. From the beginning of each transect, the first 50 trees within 10 m of the transect line were sampled. In addition, all terrestrial orchids and species of trees within 10 m of the transect line were also recorded. There was no association between the orchid and specific species of trees. There were nine orchid species in the MR that did not occur in the CNP and BCF, and seven in the CNP and BCF that did not occur in the MR. In the BCF, the orchids occurred on average on four different trees. In contrast, in the CNP the orchids occurred on average on eight different trees.