LITTLE RED DOT

VANDA MISS JOAQUIM

Singapore’s national flower is the Vanda Miss Joaquim (scientifically Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim), a hybrid orchid.

 It was chosen on 15 April 1981 for its vibrant colours, hardiness, year-round blooming, and resilience—qualities seen as reflecting the Singapore spirit.

Singapore is the only country with a hybrid as its national flower.

History of the Flower

Around the early 1890s, Agnes Joaquim (born Ashkhen Hovakimian) successfully cross-bred two orchids commonly grown in Singapore gardens: the Burmese Vanda teres (now Papilionanthe teres) and the Malayan Vanda hookeriana (now Papilionanthe hookeriana).

In 1893, Henry Nicholas Ridley (first scientific director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens) examined the plant, had it sketched and preserved, and published a description in The Gardeners’ Chronicle. He explicitly credited her: “A few years ago Miss Joaquim, a lady residing in Singapore, well known for her success as a horticulturist, succeeded in crossing Vanda Hookeriana… and V. teres…” This made it the first registered plant hybrid from Singapore and one of the earliest documented Vanda hybrids.

The orchid won first prize for the rarest orchid at Singapore’s 1899 Flower Show. It later gained commercial success in the cut-flower industry and was used as a symbol by groups such as the Progressive Party (1947) and the Malayan Orchid Society (1957). In 1981 it was selected from 40 contenders (mostly orchids) as the national flower, with the “Agnes” variety preferred.

A historical controversy arose in later decades claiming it might have been a natural hybrid that Joaquim merely discovered. In 2016 the National Parks Board and National Heritage Board reviewed the evidence (including Ridley’s contemporary accounts) and officially confirmed Joaquim as the breeder.

Agnes Joaquim’s Early Life in Singapore

Agnes was born on 7 April 1854 in Singapore into a prominent second-generation Armenian family of Persian-Armenian descent. She was the eldest daughter and second of 11 children of Parsick (Basil) Joaquim, an Armenian merchant and commercial agent who arrived from Madras around 1840 and co-founded the trading firm Stephens & Joaquim, and Urelia (Urughlu) Zechariah, a Singapore-born Armenian.

Her maternal grandfather, Isaiah Zechariah, was one of the founders of the Armenian Apostolic Church of St Gregory the Illuminator (opened 1835, Singapore’s oldest surviving church and a National Monument). The family were active church members.

They initially lived at 30 (or nearby) Hill Street near other Armenian families and the church. By 1861 they moved to a large mansion, Mount Narcis, on a substantial plot (with gardens and ponds) at 2 Narcis Street off Tanjong Pagar Road. The street and house were named after her eldest brother Nerses (Narcis). Her father served on the Agri-Horticultural Society and Botanic Gardens boards; her mother was a prize-winning gardener. Agnes and several siblings also regularly won awards at flower shows for flowers, vegetables, fruits, and other plants.

Agnes never married. She was a skilled embroiderer and active in the Armenian Church.

She was already ill with cancer when her orchid won the 1899 prize and died on 2 July 1899 at age 45, just three months later.

Tomb and Monuments (Especially in/near Tanjong Pagar)

• Tomb: Agnes was originally buried at Bukit Timah Cemetery. When that site was later acquired, her tombstone was moved to the grounds of the Armenian Church on Hill Street. It stands in the church’s Garden of Memories, often with pots of Vanda Miss Joaquim nearby. The epitaph reads: “Let her own works praise her.”
• Vanda Miss Joaquim Pavilion (Tanjong Pagar): Opened 14 April 2002. This small garden and pavilion mark the approximate site of the family’s former Mount Narcis residence on the now-vanished Narcis Street (near present-day Tanjong Pagar Plaza / Craig Road area), where the orchid is believed to have been bred in the family gardens.
• Vanda Miss Joaquim Park (Yan Kit Road, Tanjong Pagar area): A short distance away; it commemorates both Agnes Joaquim and the national flower.

Other recognition includes her 2015 induction into the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame (as the first woman in the world to breed a hybrid orchid) and various place names (e.g., Vanda Road, Vanda Crescent). The flower appears on currency, stamps, and in Singapore Airlines’ signature scent.

Her story highlights both Singapore’s early horticultural history and the contributions of its Armenian community.