The Cattleyas and Their Relatives, Vol. 1: The Cattleyas - Hardcover

Withner, Carl L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0881920991 ISBN 13: 9780881920994

Publisher: Timber Press, 1988

Synopsis

Cattleyas are frequently called "the Queen of the Orchids," and Carl Withner's passion for them started before World War II. About 12 years ago he published the first in this series of six books, which now comes to a conclusion with this final volume. The South American Encyclia species have not previously been the subject of a book, and the genus presents many problems and difficulties. A few of the species are known from a single herbarium specimen and may well now be extinct because of the continuing loss of habitat.

This volume also includes taxonomic and nomenclatural changes affecting species covered in the earlier volumes, as well as additions and changes to the text of each of the five volumes.

About this title

About the Author

In 1990 Withner was granted the American Orchid Society's highest award, the Gold Medal, to honor his distinguished achievement in science and education. In 1996 the Orchid Digest Corporation awarded him its highest accolade, the Silver Medal for meritorious service to the orchid world. Dr. Withner lives in Bellingham, Washington, where he remains much occupied with orchid research, writing, and work with orchid societies.

From the Back Cover

THE CATTLEYAS AND THEIR RELATIVES
Volume VI: The South American Encyclia Species

This is the final volume in a landmark treatise in six parts devoted to the genera of the Cattleya alliance, a series whose first volume appeared in 1988. This volume covers the species of Encyclia native to South America, a group of orchids that presents the researcher with many difficulties. The herbarium record is minimal on many of these species, and the original or type specimen may have been destroyed; photographs and even drawing may be lacking. There are formidable problems in identification, distribution, and nomenclature to be resolved, further complicated by the ongoing catastrophic loss of habitat. Carl Withner's extensive field experience, study and research are invaluable assets in brining order to this tangled genus, and providing the foundation for further work.

This volume also includes an appendix of taxonomic and nomenclatural changes affecting species covered in the first five volumes, and a second appendix of changes and additions to the earlier volumes reflecting recent scholarship.

Writing in the American Orchid Society Bulletin, Rebecca Northern said of the first volume: "This is a book for all time. It and the five volumes to follow will form a grand addition to orchid libraries... (a) source of information for years to come." Now that this great work has been completed, her prediction seems to have been amply fulfilled.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

As I delved among the South American species with these two characteristics — the anther cap color and the protuberances — I ran into one problem after another. I ended up with a large group of synonyms for a species that was first named Epidendrum amictum in 1855, predating all the other names and having therefore the priority of epithet for this species. Not all may agree with this choice, and some, including myself, will choose to keep some of the species of this complex as separate entities. Such species are described on other pages under Encyclia conchaechila, Enc. leucantha, and Enc. thrombodes. If we consider all these closely related forms together, the complex has a major distribution in South America, though local populations may differ in some details. Encyclia linearfoliodes continues to be a debatable synonym, and Fowlie and Duveen (1992) describe it as having an anther cap with spots that can look like eyes, a minutely notched lip, and white flowers 2 cm in diameter or less.

We can also wonder what might be different about the pollinator of these plants. Ordinarily the anther cap of an Encyclia species is white, greenish, or sometimes yellow, and dark colored types such as these deep maroon caps are unusual. Since the base of the lip tends to be covered with short, dense, almost microscopic hairs, especially on the forcipate keels, and since the midlobe is characterized as having distinctly raised and verrucose veins, the lip is also distinctive. Furthermore, the lateral lobes tend to be somewhat elongated and clasp tightly about the column.

Edition details

• Publisher: Timber Press
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0881920991
• ISBN 13: 9780881920994
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 147