Robert Wight (1838) made extensive collection from the then known Madras presidency, which included some parts of the present day Karnataka State. This is followed by the work of Hooker (1890-94) who has included about 1200 species from the erstwhile British India. Cooke (1906) while carrying out work on the flora of Bombay presidency made collection chiefly from the then known North Kanara District. Fischer (1928) while completing the work of J S Gamble of the Flora of Presidency of Madras has described 191 species of orchids belongs to 60 genera. Santapau and Kapadia (1966) in their work on the orchids of Bombay have included 100 species from the Uttara Kannada. Saldanha and Nicolson (1976) have enumerated 95 species in 41 genera from Hassan district. This includes a new genus Smithsonia and 4 new species. Rao and Razi (1981) described 62 species belonging to 31 genera from the Mysore district while Arora et al (1981) described 4 species from south Kanara district. Yoganarasimhan et al (1981) recorded 38 species in 26 genera from Chickmagalur district. Sharma et al (1984) have included 173 species in 51 genera from the state while Singh (1981) has recorded 15 species in 6 genera from Eastern Karnataka districts. Keshava Murthy and Yoganarasimhan (1990) have recorded 62 species in 32 genera from Kodagu district. In conservation of wild Orchids of Kodagu in the Western Ghats, T Anand Rao   (1998) has described 65 species of Orchids.