Charles Parish collected plants in Burma (now Myanmar) between 1852 and 1878. His orchid collections, both preserved and living plants, were extensive. He sent plant material and watercolour sketches to Sir William Hooker at Kew and living plants to the British orchid nursery of Messrs Hugh Low & Co. of Upper Clapton. H.G. Reichenbach obtained examples of the Parish plant material from Hugh Low and he visited Kew where he studied the Parish orchid specimens and illustrations and many of them were subsequently described by Reichenbach. His beautiful and accurate watercolour paintings of orchids were bound in two volumes and eventually came to Kew following his death. They have been extensively used by botanists such as Robert Rolfe, Victor Summerhayes, Gunnar Seidenfaden and Jeffery Wood when working on the orchid floras of the region. Parish’s life, collecting activities and collections are discussed her