Orchid Genera from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. by Andre Schuiteman & Ed de Vogel

2 Pages·2001·0.03 MB·English

by  Maxwell, J F

Reviews
NAT. HIST. BULL. SIAM Soc. 49: 307-308，2 001
Orchid Genera from Thailand，L aos，C ambodia，a nd Vietnam，b y Andre Schuiteman
and Ed de Vogel. National Herbarium Nederland，L eiden，Ne therlands (2000)，1 18 pages
including 33 pages of color plates. NLG5 0.00 (EUR 22.70); with English +官1ai，+L ao，
+ Khmer，+ Vietnamese editions. Order from National Herbarium Nederland，P .O. Box
9514，2 300 RA，L eiden，N etherlands; e-mail: [email protected]
At last! A key to Thai et al. native orchid genera-a very necessyand most welcome
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addition to my library.百1efirst revisional work on Thai orchids，pu blished by the Siam
Society，w as done by Seidenfaden & Smitinand (1959-1965). All of this initial work was
subsequently revised by Seidenfaden-a prodigious task-and was published periodically
in two Danish journals.
Until af ew ye sago，1 u sed mostly Holttum's Orchids of Malaya (1964) as ag eneral
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key to determine Thai genera. This book cannot be used for manyτ'hai genera which are
outside of its range. Seidenfaden's Orchids of Indo-China，p ublished in Copenhagen in
1992，p roved to be very useful，es pecially for orchids from northern Thailand.
Schuiteman & de Vogel have finally produced ab ook that can be used for Southeast
Asian orchids. The four countries include 174 genera and about 1400 species. The
introductory pages include succinct notes on orchid diversity，di stribution，c onservation，
and classification，a g lossary，a p age of orchid flower diagrams，a nd the key. To use白is
key properly，w hich is based mostly on flower characteristics，o ne must be quite familiar
with orchid flower mo中hologyand botanical terminology. The actual key is not as trict
dichotomous one since it follows the general format of the generic and species keys found
in the Flora of British lndia (1872-1897). Ther eader is given ac hoice of several (often
more血佃 10)genera for basic leads，ea ch with af ew diagnostic notes applicable to each
genus. Following the key，ea ch alphabetically arranged genus has as hort description，wi th
notes on distribution，n umber of species，ha bitat，et c. The 132 color plates at the end of
the book are mostly of flowers of m yof the genera included in the book.
加
百lIsbook is exactly what Thailand has needed for years-a relatively simple and
inexpensive reference that botanists and students can use in the first step to identify local
orchids. A basic problem for all users is the next step after the genus has been determined.
A list of references for each genus should have been included. Fortunately，Al ain Mauric
completed his fmal version of AB ibliography ofTaxonomic Revisions For Vascular Plants
in Thailand in July 1999 (see my review of this vital reference in NHBSS 46: 209，1 998).
百1iswork also includes references for Indo-China，M alaysia，M alesia，C hina，組 even
some world-wide revisions. References for each orchid genus，fo llowing Mauric's example，
are recommended. 1w ould have prefeedam ore detailed dichotomous key or one in
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which there 'efewer genera to select from in the ultimate leads. A few more flower
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diagrams instead of pictures of flowers，w hich eof marginal taxonomic value，w ould
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ce抗ainlyclarify some terms，e. g. spur，m entum，an d column foot，wh ich紅enot illustrated.
307
308 REVIEWS
Thea uthors eto be complimented on not only providing av ery handy book which
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has been translated into four languages，bu t one which also continues the high standard of
professionalism of the Leiden herbarium. Until all of Seidenfaden's et al. work is compiled
for Thailand，1 m ust still rely on my library for specific identifications.
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