Orchids as Valuable Folklore Medicine: A Review

The impetus of writing this paper is to review various medicinal orchid species growing in different parts of India. The family orchidaceae is one of the diverse groups among angiosperms which includes different types of orchid species. This paper is written to review the medicinal and therapeutic importance and use of different orchid species for treatment of various types of diseases. Orchids are herbaceous plants which are mentioned in ancient ayurvedic system of medicine because of their therapeutic properties. Most of the medicinal orchid species are epiphytic and terrestrial in habitat.