Paphiopedilum (ePub)

Paphiopedilum by Braem, Chiron, & Öhlund is the most complete monograph hitherto written about this exhilarating genus of slipper orchids. The extensive text is scientifically correct but written to be accessible to commercial and amateur orchid growers, professional botanists, and just anyone interested in orchids or in beautiful and fascinating flowering plants in general. The book is and completed by 390 illustrations. Overall, the book is 791 paged on the iPad (the page count for other readers will be higher, depending on the format of the reader). The text is written by Prof. Dr. Guido Braem, one of the leading Orchid Taxonomists of our times. The botanist Dr. Guy Chiron and Sandy Öhlund, one of the senior judges of the American Orchid Society and experienced orchid grower contributed valuable information.

Starting with a short preamble and a detailed discussion, the book continues with a general section dealing with the basics of orchids and orchid taxonomy. Thereafter, the genus Paphiopedilum, representing the Asian tropical and subtropical slipper orchids is discussed. The infrageneric divisions of the genus are explained and each and every one of the 95 species of the genus is treated in detail: basionym (the name as given in the original publication), synonym(s), discussion, etymology (origin of the name of the species), detailed description, distribution and habitat, flowering data in situ and in cultivation (as far as available), miscellaneous notes such as the mitotic chromosome count, and varieties and forms (as far as applicable). All species are illustrated whereby the great majority of pictures are photographs taken from plants in cultivation and in their natural habitat. Close-ups are available for all species, in situ photographs for a great number of the taxa. Furthermore, we have includes a great number of plates from famous botanical works.

After the descriptive section, there is a block with identification keys to the various subgenera, sections, and subsections, and finally for each of these, there is a key leading to the species. The book is completed by a list of plant names, a bibliography and a list of illustrations.

Overall the lay-out of the book warrants easy use. Those not interested in the purely scientific chapters can easily jump directly to the descriptive part of the work that is perfect for identifications in the greenhouse and in the field.

Based on the legendary books about the genus published by Prof Braem and his team in 1988, 1998/1999, and 2003, the present monograph is the best ever written on the subject, and will be the standards text for many years to come. The e-Book format was chosen to make the work available on as many systems as possible and allow for its use on modern portable media (tablets and smart-phones) as well as desktop and laptop computers.