Vanishing Beauty: Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol.1: Acianthera-Kegeliella

The most recent biodiversity estimates show that Costa Rica possesses the richest orchid fl ora in the world. With more almost 1,400 species, this small Central American country exhibits an astonishing variety of orchids, equivalent to about half of all the species recorded for the African continent or for Brazil, a country perhaps one hundred times larger.

This extraordinary richness attracted the attention of botanists and collectors since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and a long tradition of resident naturalists allowed for the orchid fl ora of Costa Rica to be better known than that of other Neotropical regions. As early as 1973, when it became part of the Universidad de Costa Rica, the Jardín Botánico Lankester developed a leading role in research and education on Costa Rican orchid flora, and its live collections are the most widely recognized ones in Latin America.

“Vanishing Beauty” is a tribute by the Universidad de Costa Rica to the surprising variety and the fragile beauty of the native orchids of the country, and at the same time it is a recognition of the Jardín Botánico Lankesters tradition in orchid research and conservation.