Genera Orchidacearum: Epidendroideae

The Genera Orchidacearum series represents a robust and natural classification of the orchids, something that has eluded plant scientists and orchid enthusiasts for years. The editors, who are all distinguished orchid specialists, incorporate a wealth of new DNA data into a truly phylogenetic classification, identifying the areas and taxa that merit additional work. To this end, they have invited several international specialists to contribute in their particular areas of expertise. Each volume provides comprehensive coverage of one or two orchid subfamilies and the series as a whole will be an indispensable reference tool for scientists, orchid breeders and growers.
Orchidaceae is the largest monocotyledon family and perhaps the largest plant family in terms of number of species, approximately 25,000. However, for a variety of reasons it remains one of the least understood. The fossil record is poor, and active research has been relatively scarce until recent years, in part because of the sheer size and cosmopolitan distribution of the family.
The fifth volume treats 186 genera in tribe Cymbidieae of the largest subfamily, Epidendroideae, including some of the showiest orchids often used in hybridizing. Comprehensive treatments are provided for each genus, which include complete nomenclature, description, distribution (with map), anatomy, palynology, cytogenetics, phytochemistry, phylogenetics, pollination, ecology, and economic uses. Cultivation notes are included for those genera known to be in hobbyist collections. Genera are beautifully illustrated with line drawings and colour photographs.

Alec M. Pridgeon is Sainsbury Orchid Fellow of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and Courtesy Curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. In orchid circles he is perhaps best known as past Editor of the American Orchid Society Bulletin (now titled Orchids) and Founding Editor of the scientific orchid journal, Lindleyana.

He has written or co-written over 60 scientific articles or book chapters and over 100 popular articles, co-written and co-directed five videotapes, edited 12 books including the Proceedings of the 14th World Orchid Conference and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids, and compiled the Orchid Action Plan for the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN in Geneva. Phillip Cribb is retired as Deputy Keeper of the Herbarium and Curator of the Orchid Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He has specialized in the taxonomy of Old World tropical orchids, participating in many expeditions to study orchids in the field. He is the author of several books and over 350 papers on orchids. He has been a member of the Royal Horticultural Society's Orchid Committee for 30 years, an executive member of the International Orchid Commission, and until 2006 chaired the IUCN/ Species Survival Commission's Orchid Specialist Group, which publishes Orchid Conservation News.

He has been awarded the Linnean Society Gold Medal for Botany, the Royal Horticultural Society's Westonbirt Medal, the Orchid Society of South-east Asia's Gold Medal, and the American Orchid Society's Gold Medal of Achievement for his work on orchids. Mark W. Chase is Keeper of the Jodrell Laboratory at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He has received the Cooley Award from the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, the Rolf Dalhgren Prize from by the Royal Physiographic Society of Lund (Sweden), the Linnean Medal for Botany from the Linnean Society of London, and an ICI/Current Contents award for being one of the top 15 most-cited authors in the fields of agriculture and plant and animals sciences (1991-2001); he was made a member of the Royal Society of London in 2003. He holds an honorary doctorate from the universities of Uppsala (Sweden) and Ghent (Belgium) and is member of the Orchid Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society.

Finn N. Rasmussen is Associate Professor at the Department of Biology, research group for evolutionary botany, University of Copenhagen. He is a specialist on Orchidaceae and other monocotyledons. His research publications range from floristics and nomenclature to morphology and developmental anatomy, pollination biology, and mycorrhizal biology. He is author and co-author of a number of university level textbooks, popular scientific articles and consultant for Danish adaptations of TV series and books on natural history. He is a member of the Orchid Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN, the Society of Systematic Biologists, Botanical Society of America, and Dansk Botanisk Forening.