From Lee Kuan Yew to Amitabh Bachchan, Singapore orchids have many world famous names

Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid
Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid Pixabay

Fans and followers of Bollywood celebrities have honoured their favourite starts in several ways all over the world including Singapore. But India's legendary star Amitabh Bachchan, who is called as Big B along with his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are blessed to have these things or places named after them.

Singapore which is also known as the financial hub of South-East Asia is more than a technologically advanced country. A variety of Orchid was named after Amitabh Bachchan and it is called 'Dendrobium Amitabh Bachchan,' while Holland has named a species of a tulip after the Miss World 1994, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

Amitabh Bachchan's name was given to the flower as a mark of respect to the actor and as a sign of friendship between the film industries of both the countries.

In north Sikkim, a waterfall, located at the road that connects Chungthang to Yumthang Valley is now called as 'Amitabh Bachchan Falls.' Some of the local residents claim that it has been named after Big B as he is the tallest Bollywood star and this waterfall is one of the tallest local falls. The also has a temple in Kolkata, a city in West Bengal, India.

This is not the first time that Singapore named an orchid after a well-known personality. In 2018 when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Lion City, another variety of orchid was named after him to mark his visit to the National Orchid Garden.

Recently when the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his wife Anna Hakobyan visited the Singapore Botanic Gardens, an orchid naming ceremony was held at which a new kind of orchid was named after both of them.

NParks named another orchid Aranda Lee Kuan Yew after Singapore's founding father, Late Lee Kuan Yew.

It should be noted that Singapore is the only country to have a hybrid flower as its national flower, Vanda Miss Joaquim, which is a crossbreed between Vanda hookeriana and Vanda teres.

When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry got married, the 37-year-old Meghan was wearing a classic elegant long-sleeved gown and all 53 countries of the Commonwealth were a part of the wedding. So, the famous designer Clare Waight Keller designed the veil with a floral composition made of the particular flora of each Commonwealth country that included Singapore's Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid.

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