Ocean Expo Park Unveils a Fantastical Blue World of Rare Blue Orchids

At the Tropical Dream Center (Chura Island Botanical Garden) inside Ocean Expo Park, Okinawa, a rare orchid known as the Blue Vanda (Vanda coerulea) — called hisui-ran in Japanese — is now in full bloom. Around 70 plants and roughly 900 blossoms are flowering together, creating a fantastical scene awash in blue.

Vanda coerulea

• Family: Orchidaceae
• Scientific name: Vanda coerulea
• Japanese name: Hisui-ran

Native to elevations of 800 to 1,700 meters in India, Myanmar, and Thailand, this epiphytic orchid is a rare wild species that produces large blue-purple flowers, a color that is unusual even among orchids. Because its blue coloring is hereditary, it has long served as an important parent plant in breeding programs aimed at developing blue-toned orchid varieties.

At the same time, the plant is notoriously difficult to cultivate, and getting a large number of plants to bloom together requires meticulous care and precise bloom-timing techniques.

Thanks to years of cultivation expertise built up at the botanical garden, around 70 Blue Vanda plants have been brought into bloom together for this display. Beyond the delicate, elegant beauty of each individual flower, visitors can take in the fantastical scenery created by rows of blue blossoms. This rare, limited-time space woven from blue orchids can be experienced at the Tropical Dream Center.

Exhibition Details