Checkered Vanda

Checkered Vanda is a commonly occurring, native perennial orchid from India. It has a presence in many other countries neighboring to India as well, such as Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

Checkered Vanda is a medium to large sized orchid with a climbing stem. Leaves are linear, narrow, 3-toothed at the tip. The plant blooms with an inflorescence carrying 5 to 12, fragrant, long-lived flowers. Flowers are 4-5 cm across. The sepals and petals have undulating margins and are pale green, yellowish green or somewhat bluish with checkered lines of olive-brown on the inner surface [1]. The outer surface is white while the lip is violet-purple with a white margin, and usually deeper purple towards the tip.

Checkered Vanda is known for its medicinal use in curing dyspepsia, bronchitis, inflammations, piles, and hiccup.

Nomenclature:

Common name: Checkered Vanda, Vanda Orchid

Regional Names:
Bengali: rasna
• Hindi: वांदा Vanda, Nai, perasara
• Kannada: bandanike, badanika, jkeevanthige
• Marathi: aasna
• Oriya: ilkum
• Sanskrit: atirasa, bhujangakshi, dronagandhika
• Tamil: kantanakuli
• Telugu: chittiveduri, kanapabandanika
• Urdu: Banda

Botanical name: Vanda tessellata Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)

Synonyms: Epidendrum tessellatum, Vanda roxburghii, Cymbidium tessellatum