Colour Field Guide To The Native Orchids Of New Zealand

Lovingly produced by the New Zealand Native Orchid Group this book contains colour photographs and descriptions of each individual species and covers all the named, significant tag-named, described and undescribed taxa so far identified - some 224 Orchids. An invaluable guide for identifying orchids in the field.

This book is written primarily for the amateur enthusiast and field naturalist who would like to identify their "find" easily and with the least amount of detective work (that is sometimes the way of more professional books written about orchids). Mr. Munden has kept botanical terms toa minimum and has taken pains to exclude various confusing terms, including authorities for species binomials. This book is for the non-professional who wants to know more about the Native Orchids of Nova Scotia.

For biologists, 2009 was an epochal year: the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of a book now known simply as The Origin of Species. But for many botanists, Darwin’s true legacy starts with the 1862 publication of another volume: On the Various Contrivances by Which British and Foreign Orchids Are Fertilised by Insects and on the Good Effects of Intercrossing, or Fertilisation of Orchids. This slim but detailed book with the improbably long title was the first in a series of plant studies by Darwin that continues to serve as a global exemplar in the field of evolutionary botany. In Darwin’s Orchids, an international group of orchid biologists unites to celebrate and explore the continuum that stretches from Darwin’s groundbreaking orchid research to that of today. Mirroring the structure of Fertilisation of Orchids, Darwin’s Orchids investigates flowers from Darwin’s home in England, through the southern hemisphere, and on to North America and China as it seeks to address a set of questions first put forward by Darwin himself: What pollinates this particular type of orchid? How does its pollination mechanism work? Will an orchid self-pollinate or is an insect or other animal vector required? And how has this orchid’s lineage changed over time? Diverse in their colors, forms, aromas, and pollination schemes, orchids have long been considered ideal models for the study of plant evolution and conservation. Looking to the past, present, and future of botany, Darwin’s Orchids will be a vital addition to this tradition.