Field Guide to the Orchids of Europe and the Mediterranean is a comprehensive photographic guide to the orchids of the region written by leading experts, who between them have decades of orchid field and research experience. The book covers 30 genera and their species including Ophrys, Cypripedium, Orchis, Dactylorhiza, Epipactis and Serapias, as well as 70 natural hybrids. Much of the confusion over identification is due to the morphological variation a species can have within a habitat and across its distribution, and therefore to simplify identification, several images accompany each species to illustrate this diversity, along with notes on distinguishing features and distribution maps. Each species is also accompanied by common names and important synonyms, as well as notes on habitat, flowering times and distinguishing features.
Rolf Kühn is associated with the Swiss Orchid Foundation at the University of Basel, Switzerland. He has spent more than 40 years searching and exploring for and photographing orchids in their native habitats in Europe and the Mediterranean.
Henrik Pederson is Emeritus at the Natural History Museum of Denmark where he was previously Associate Professor and Curator. He runs Select Nature, a consultancy firm also offering lectures, courses and guided tours. He has had a life-long interest in European and Asian orchids and is the author or co-author of several books including Ophrys: The Bee Orchids of Europe (Kew Publishing, 2007) and Orchids (William Collins, 2017).
Phillip Cribb is a leading specialist on the taxonomy and conservation of orchids, and a member of the RHS Orchid Committee. He was Deputy Keeper of the Herbarium and Curator of the Orchid Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
"[...] For any book of this nature, you have to look at the competition, and really there is very little. The most recent edition of Delforge, Orchidées d’Europe, published by Delachaux & Niestlé, dates from 2016 and is available only in French (and it is certainly not without its faults). Other books are much older. If you are mainly a visitor to one country, it would be worth seeking out more local guides to reduce the number of species. But if you travel widely through Europe in search of orchids, then this is the book for you – it is well illustrated and good value, despite its shortcomings."
– Bob Gibbons, British Wildlife 31(3), February 2020