Language: Bilingual in English and Chinese with Chinese introduction, and Chinese and scientific name indexes
Native Orchids of Taiwan is a taxonomical work intended to reveal the abundant resources of the orchid flora of Taiwan, an island of 36 000 km square. In this three-volume series, more than 310 species and varieties will be depicted. So far 271 species and varieties have been introduced. The first volume (1975) revealed 91 species in 33 genera. All of the species are arranged alphabatically for ease of reference. A large number of line drawings, color photographs, and some pictures of dissected flowers have been incorporated. Also, taxonomic disposition, geographic distribution, flowering time, and ecological information are included for each species. In fact, 11 species in 7 genera of orchids were described for the first time. A valuable part of this work is the description of the saprophytic orchids, most of them are extremely difficult to be observed in their native environments.
This work will likely remain the basic reference work on Taiwan orchids for many years. It is a pleasure to turn the pages to the lovely drawings and pictures. It is equally impressive to comtemplete how many species there are in such a small island.