Orchids comprise one of the largest families of flowering plants and cover 6.8% of the flowering plants in India. They are pri zed for their incredible diversity in size, shape, forms, colour, attractiveness of their flowers and high keeping qualities upto ten wks. While explori ng the floristic diversity of the biodiversity ri ch areas of the Himachal Pradesh, an attempt was made to assess the diversity, distribution and conservation status of orchids along an altitudinal gradient in Hirb and Shoja Catchments in Kullu district, Chailchowk-Rohanda-Kamrunag area and Mandi-Pandoh area in Mandi district and Ghanahatti-Shimla area in Shimla district. Extensive and intensive field surveys revealed the occurrence of 29 species of orchids, mostly terrestri al belonging to 16 genera. Amongst genera, Habenaria (8 spp.), Goodyera (3 spp.), Calanthe, Epipactis, Herminium, Listera and Malaxis (2 spp., each) were dominant. Majority of species (25) were distributed between 1800-2800 m altitudes, whereas at elevations higher and lower than these, relatively less diversity of orchids was recorded. Amongst the different sites, Chailchowk-Rohanda- Kamrunag area (19 spp.) represented maximum species of orchids, followed by Hirb and Shoja Catchments (12 spp.), Ghanahatti- Shimla area (7 spp.) and Mandi-Pandoh area (5 spp.). Fifteen species were native to the Himalayan region and 7 species were near endemic to the Indian Himalayan Region. One species (Dactylorhiza hatagirea) was identified as critically endangered and 6 species as endangered and 11 as vulnerable. The over exploitation of orchids for trade, habitat loss and climate change are major factors leading to rapid decrease in their population. These factors have led to habitat destruction, changes and fragmentation. Therefore, assessment of the habitats and populations of the orchids is essentially required to understand the dynamics of the habitats and status of the species which would help in developing appropriate strategy for in situ conservation of the orchids, in Himachal Pradesh.