Udai C. Pradhan

Udai's contributions to orchidology and conservation have earned him numerous prestigious honours, including:

• The Noel Day Memorial Gold Medal for Academic Excellence
• International Scientist of the Year (Orchidology and Orchid Conservation)
• Lifetime Achievement Award from the Orchid Society of India

Udai is an elected life member of the American Orchid Society, the Orchid Society of India, and the World Wildlife Fund (India). Based in Kalimpong, India, he continues to breed and study orchids, having hybridized and registered over 50 orchid varieties which have been registered with the Royal Horticultural Society, London.

Udai was presented with the Kew Guild Medal at the 2025 AGM. In accepting this prestigious award, Udai said: 

"Receiving the Kew Guild Medal today brings my journey with Kew to a full circle. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Kew Guild Members for this honour. Fifty years ago, as a young student stepping into Kew for the first time, I couldn’t have imagined the profound and meaningful impact this place and its people would have on my life. If there’s one thing that I have learnt on this journey, it is that horticulture and its myriad facets is never just about plants. It is about people, it is about connections, it is about understanding our place in a complex and beautiful system that demands love, care, humility and reverence.

Our connection with Kew began during the early 1900’s when many Himalayan plants specimens and seeds were sent to Kew from The Chandra Nursery of Rhenock, Sikkim by my grand uncles, Rai Saheb Ratna Bahadur Pradhan and Durga Shamsher Pradhan. The specimens can still be seen at the Kew Herbarium. The Nursery came to limelight with visit of Her Excellency, the Vicerine of India , Lady Linlithgow in 1940. Later, its fame reached Buckingham Palace, Balmoral Castle to the well known Orchid Nursery of Sanders!

My father, Badri Narayan Pradhan was adopted by Durga Shamsher of The Chandra Nursery when he was 7 years old. He was the one who planted the idea of Kew,when I was a school boy very keen on learning about plants.

As a 14 years old, I began experimenting with breeding the Amaryllids. The unique Orchid shaped flower of Sprekelia formosissima with Hippeastrum hybrids of The Chandra Nursery. After countless tries, I succeeded in obtaining the hybrid and it turned out to be exactly in between the two parents. When it flowered , I sent a report to The Amaryllis Year Book 1970 published from USA. This was the beginning of a lifelong adventure with breeding and growing plants.

After graduation from the Allahabad Agricultural Institute I joined Kew in 1971 as a Voluntary Student. My coming to Kew became possible through the kindness of Mr. Leo Pemberton who was then the Supervisor of Studies at Kew and my guardians, Maurice and Joan Street, who made arrangements for my stay with them till I found a suitable place at 16 Kew Gardens Road.

My spare time spent at Kew Herbarium to study the specimens of Indian Orchidaceae helped form the base for my books, Indian Orchids: Guide to Identification and Culture, volumes 1 and 2 , in 1976 and 1979. These books were the foundation for most Orchid research in India. I received help and guidance from Professor R. E. Holttum , Dr. N.L. Bor, Dr. Phillip Cribb, Dr. Gunnar Siedenfaden and many others.

I also learnt the Laboratory techniques of growing Orchids from seeds at the Jodrell Laboratory under guidance of Dr. Peter Thompson and Dicken Bowling. After returning home, I introduced these techniques for the first time in India. Post Kew, I got an opportunity to join the Central Agronomical Research Station at Versailles, France to learn meristem tissue culture of Orchids under Professor Georges Morel. Soon after I went to Germany to apprentice in Orchid cultivation under Mr. Johann Wichmann of Wichmann Orchids at Celle, Germany.

Tej and I got married in 1974 and begot three wonderful children who are in some way or other connected with plants. Together with Tej, we published books on Arisaema, Rhodedendon (co-authored with Sonam T. Lachungpa ). A Collector’s Edition had been gifted to Kew . 100 Beautiful Himalayan Orchids and Himalayan Jewel Orchids and How to Grow Them (co-authored with my son Satyam).Himalayan Plant Journal which was well received but had to be aborted due to severe political agitations.

In 1999, Dr. Phillip Cribb (my Kew acquaintance ) and I organised and chaired the Indian Subcontinent Regional Chapter of Orchid Specialist Group, IUCN/SSC . We also coauthored the pages for the Orchid species from India for the first Plant Red Data Book published by the IUCN- WWF.

My passion for plants continue with my children. Hemlata became the second generation from our family to come to Kew to study Botanical Art under Cristabel King and Dr. Judy Stone completing her Diploma with distinction. Dr. Philip J. Cribb was then her mentor. Soon after she did her Masters at the Royal College of Art with DFID Scholarship.

Meantime, Satyam graduated from Singapore Botanic Gardens when Dr. Kiat W. Tan was the Director. He is the fourth generation to continue the family business on plants. Sanjivini completed a Jewellery design course focusing on creating Jewelleries inspired by flora and fauna.

All this and many more has happened because of my association with Kew and the wonderful people I have had the pleasure and honour of meeting. May this bond continue to grow in the following years in the service of the natural world and horticulture.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for this prestigious recognition. Thank you very much."