Three Australian orchid experts introduce all the subdivisions of the wildly diverse subtribe Dendrobiinae with at least one small color illustration of each (totaling some 450), along with expertise on the biology, geography, origins, still debatable classification, conservation, cultivation, artificial hybrids, and traditional uses of the wildly popular group. Includes ten color maps and a glossary of botanical terms. Indexed by general and scientific name. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
As a youth Wayne Harris spent much of his idle time roaming the Adelaide Hills in search of terrestrial orchids. He later went on to the University of Adelaide where he majored in both Botany and Geology in his undergraduate years, subsequently gaining an M.Sc degree from the Botany Department. His interest in orchids continued in a less formal way until more recently when he participated in several botanical expeditions to Papua New Guinea. He is currently a senior botanist at the Queensland Herbarium where he is curator of Orchidaceae and his current orchid research is centred on the taxonomy of Diplocaulobium. He is also the National Registrar of Judges for the Australasian Native Orchid Society Inc.
Dr. Peter Lavarack, known to everyone as ‘Bill’, gained a PhD degree on numerical taxonomy of orchids. He has worked as a botanist and planner in the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service for almost 30 years and has lead several scientific expeditions to Cape York and Torres Strait for the Australian Orchid Foundation, collecting orchid data. He has compiled management plans for national parks in tropical Queensland and was responsible for drafting legislation for the protection of rare and threatened plants including many orchids. He is the author of two books and about 100 papers, both popular and scientific, mostly on orchids. He lives with his wife Beverley in Townsville.
Dr. Geoff Stocker is a forester by training who has specialised in the ecology and management of tropical forests in north Australia and Papua New Guinea. He also has farming interests on the Atherton Tableland in north Queensland where he and wife Jacquie run beef cattle and have a small nursery specialising in orchid species. He has worked extensively in New Guinea over 30 years and has a detailed knowledge of high altitude orchids on New Guinea.
