orchids Singapore is an important centre of orchid cultivation. Around 2,000 hybrids have originated on the island, and the variety known as Vanda Miss Joaquim is Singapore’s national flower. The first major orchid collector in Singapore was Hoo Ah Kay (also known as ‘Whampoa’), a prominent mid- 19th century Chinese merchant. He kept his prized orchids in a 12- acre manicured garden, and in 1857 he sold 60 acres of choice land at Tanglin to the government for the construction of the Botanic Gardens (present- day Singapore Botanic Gardens), which would eventually include an important orchid house. The Gardens then embarked on an active orchid exchange programme with other botanical institutions around the world. Among the various species of orchids it received was an enormous tiger orchid (Grammatophyllum speciosum) that weighed over a ton. The tiger orchid is the world’s second- largest orchid, bearing numerous sprays over a metre long, with thousands of flowers the size of a person’s palm. A record of orchid thefts from the Gardens reflects the interest in orchids at that time. Former director of the Botanic Gardens Henry Ridley, who is best known for his contribution to the rubber industry, was another important collector.

One of the earliest hybrids was the Vanda Miss Joaquim, which was locally cultivated by an Armenian, Agnes Joaquim, and registered in 1893. It was a cross between Vanda hookeriana, a swamp- growing species from the tin- rich Kinta Valley in Perak, and Vanda teres from the foothills of the Himalayas.

In 1928, Eric Holttum, director of the Botanic Gardens, succeeded in raising orchid seedlings from seed. Together with his friend John Laycock, a prominent lawyer, he took up the challenge of producing free- flowering orchid plants suited to the tropics by breeding orchid species from tropical lowlands. Holttum, Laycock and horticulturist Émile Galistan founded the Malayan Orchid Society that same year, which was the first society of its kind in Southeast Asia. In 1965, this became the Orchid Society of Southeast Asia (OSSEA). With the support of the Botanic Gardens, Holttum and Laycock experimented with many hybrids.

In 1957, the Botanic Gardens began a tradition of naming orchids after important visitors to the Gardens, first naming Aranthera Anne Black after Governor Sir Robert Brown Black’s wife. Dendrobium Noor Aishah was named for the wife of the first president of Singapore, Yusof Ishak, in 1961. The visits of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko, Margaret Thatcher, Zhu Rongji and other famous personalities were also commemorated in similar fashion.

The list of renowned Singapore hybrids includes Vanda Miss Joaquim, which features in the parentage of over 450 later hybrids; Aranthera James Storie, the first successful cut- flower red spider orchid, which brought together two genera of orchids and was bred by the Botanic Gardens in 1939; Arachnis Maggie Oei, the first orchid to succeed as an export cut flower and the parent of numerous hybrids, bred by John Laycock in 1941; Aranda Deborah, the first, and an extremely prolific, Aranda which was bred by Eric Holttum in 1945; Arachnopsis Eric Holttum, not striking by itself but a parent of many beautiful hybrids, bred by the Botanic Gardens in 1950; and the Vanda Tan Chay Yan, the first orchid flower from Singapore to earn a First Class Certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), which was bred by Tan Hoon Siang in 1952.

For export as cut flowers, good colour and durability of vase life, the spider orchids (those with Arachnis in their parentage) and the Dendrobiums excel. Three hybrids have earned the First Class Certificate, highest horticultural honours: Vanda Miss Joaquim from the RHS in 1897; Vanda Tan Chay Yan from the RHS in 1954; and Mokara Zaleha Alsagoff from the OSSEA in 1997.

In Singapore, about 200 native orchid species have been recorded. In 1894, Ridley alone recorded 147 species. Nearly all are locally extinct, due to the loss of habitat. Some tens of species still survive in small pockets of natural habitat. Common wild orchids include the pigeon orchid (Dendrobium crumenatum), which grows on tree trunks in clumps. The bamboo orchid (Arundina graminifolia) has slender stems and can grow up to two metres tall. It is becoming rarer, but can sometimes be found growing among lalang (wasteland grasses) and secondary scrubland.

Photo credit: Teoh Eng Soon