Vanda Miss Joaquim Flower. In 1981, this orchid was chosen as Singapore’s national flower. Unlike other national flowers, the Vanda Miss Joaquim is a hybrid. It was the first Singapore plant hybrid to be registered.

In 1893, Henry Ridley, director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, first described the flower, a cross between Vanda hookeriana and Vanda teres. Ridley named it after Agnes Joaquim (1844– 99), who was credited with breeding the orchid. Some controversy surrounds the origins of the orchid. One account has Joaquim stumbling upon the flower in a clump of bamboo at her home in Tanjong Pagar. However, Joaquim was herself an accomplished horticulturist who experimented with her plants. In 1899, she exhibited the orchid that bore her name at a local horticulture show and won the first prize of $12, for exhibiting the rarest breed. She had probably hybridized the orchid a decade earlier.

The flower stalk may carry up to 12 buds, usually with four flowers open at a time. Each flower is about 5 cm across and 6 cm tall, and the petals are twisted around so that the back surface faces forward. The two petals and the top sepal are rosy- violet, and the lateral sepals are a pale mauve. The lip is very large and broad and the middle lobe extends out like a fan. It is coloured violet- rose, merging into a contrasting fiery orange at the centre. Over the orange patch, the lip is finely spotted with dark purple. The orchid is free- flowering and thrives in full sunlight and high humidity.

Photo credit: Teoh Eng Soon