Rod Rice, Photo intro to Vandoid Orchid genera in Asia, Ed. Nature & Travel Books, 2018

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his highly informative and nicely illustrated book is the first of its kind to cover all of the vandoid orchid genera in Asia. The content includes; what defines an orchid of monopodial/vandaceous growth; the tremendous variation in plant and flower habit including the array of perfumes; notes and observations on recently proposed generic changes based on first generation molecular technology; the main chapter on ‘Selected Genera and Species of the Asian Vandoid Orchids’ covers 72 genera and more than 180 species with text descriptions defining each genus and the included representative species with their plant and flower habit/s, countries of distribution and some notes on habitat and altitudinal range enhanced with very nice colour photos are presented.

The following chapters include miscellaneous notes and other observations on the genus Renanthera accompanied by the proposal of 1 new section and 2 new species which are described and illustrated accompanied further with notes and technical drawings on the little known entity Renanthera moluccana.

Further, an overview of the genus Ornithochilus is provided with the proposal of 1 new section and the description of 1 new species and 2 new combinations enhanced with many technical drawings of all 9 species of the genus. Some 23 other new combinations, names and typifications are presented in the genera Arachnis, Cleisocentron, Cleisostoma, Gastrochilus, Grosourdya, Holcoglossum, Pennilabium and Robiquetia, closing with nomenclatural changes in Amesiella.

The final chapter to conclude this nicely illustrated book is an annotated check list of all vandoid orchid genera known to occur in Asia including those tentatively accepted pending the outcome of a comprehensive reanalysis of the subtribe Aeridinae with ‘Next Generation Sequencing’ molecular technologies. Among the more than 240 colour photos are some of the rarest species of the vandaceous orchids to occur in Asia. This quality book is a must have for all plant species enthusiasts and anyone with a passion for the vandaceous orchids

Autorevole edizione rivista e aggiornata del 2018, pubblicata da Nature & Travel Books in Australia, in lingua inglese; copertina morbida lucida fotografica a colori con titoli al piatto e al dorso; pagine stampate su carta porosa opaca di buona grammatura; ricchissima di fotografie a colori.

Nuovo [il volume, pur di provenienza “privata”, non è mai stato consultato ed appare perfetto come da fornitura editoriale]