Synopsis Orchids are becoming an increasing an increasing source of attraction and fascination not only to plant taxonomists and conservationists, but also to horticulturists, garden enthusiasts and the general public interested in beautiful flowers.  This is one of the largest families of flowering plants, with about 17,000 species, found all over the world but abundant in tropics.  Even though all of them are perennial herbs, they may be land-plants, lithophytes, epiphytes, saprophytes, etc., and show a great diversity in their floral structure, developed mainly as a result of their adaptations to pollination by a wide variety of insects.  The magnificiently showy nature of their flowers and their long vase-life make them favourites of the flower-lovers the world over.  Thousands of their hybrid varieties are patented every year.  Orchids have become a major export commodity in several countries.