Monographs and Species Descriptions?

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Thank you all for you well written replies.

What I was trying to say about the perfect knowledge and why I'm looking to monographs is that I'm wanting a more so specific treatise on each species. Now, I understand that taxonomy is ever changing, and that makes me very excited as well, as I love taxonomy. So I'm aware that there has been a lot of rearranging done to certain genera, especially the ones that I'm interested in, fancy that. What I'm really looking for is a raw, elevated, precise description of each species and it's habitat, etc. I want something that has diagrams, pictures, and drawings of each species so that I can be so knowledgeable that I can identify or have a rough idea of what species is what, even if out of flower, based on minutiae. I also want to be highly educated on the varied taxonomic past of each species, and be aware one who thinks what is what. I've been self teaching myself about orchids for six or seven years now at a hobbyist level, but I now want to have PhD level of knowledge. I pretty much want to be a walking encyclopedia on orchids. My thirst for knowledge on orchids is literally limitless.

[estación seca]

You will learn some things from books. The most important step would be to find a teacher who can point things out and educate your eye. After that you will get a lot more out of the books than you could before.

Spend time with senior orchidists in your club. Have them show you how they tell plants apart.

[AnonYMouse]

The person who comes to mind of what Cody describes is tropterrarium with Oberonia. Perhaps he can guide you on the process of acquiring scholarly knowledge. The nuts and bolts should be the same with all genera.

[The Peloric Orchid]

Originally Posted by FairyInTheFlowers

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what a monograph is. What I'm wanting is a single book that describes an entire genus as it is currently accepted. Whether it be a collection of descriptions from past people or not, but a conglomerate of species descriptions. Like a book describing the ENTIRE genus Cattleya and it's species as we currently accept it. Something that would let me understand the unifying characteristics that we now understand a genus by.

Originally Posted by FairyInTheFlowers

Thank you all for you well written replies.

What I was trying to say about the perfect knowledge and why I'm looking to monographs is that I'm wanting a more so specific treatise on each species. Now, I understand that taxonomy is ever changing, and that makes me very excited as well, as I love taxonomy. So I'm aware that there has been a lot of rearranging done to certain genera, especially the ones that I'm interested in, fancy that. What I'm really looking for is a raw, elevated, precise description of each species and it's habitat, etc. I want something that has diagrams, pictures, and drawings of each species so that I can be so knowledgeable that I can identify or have a rough idea of what species is what, even if out of flower, based on minutiae. I also want to be highly educated on the varied taxonomic past of each species, and be aware one who thinks what is what. I've been self teaching myself about orchids for six or seven years now at a hobbyist level, but I now want to have PhD level of knowledge. I pretty much want to be a walking encyclopedia on orchids. My thirst for knowledge on orchids is literally limitless.

I'm a botanist by training and I used to do plant ID with a major herbarium and curation at a botanical garden. For general plant knowledge, it's impossible to know "each species" above a genus level because there are so many plants and that's especially the case with orchids. It's also mostly impossible to identify to plants without flowers and this is also true in my experience with orchids.

I think one of the challenges with orchids is how few published and easily accessible keys there are. If you are especially interested in a particular group, you could probably collaborate with some herbaria or botanic gardens and try write a key to identify members of said group.

The best way to stay up to date on taxonomy would be to subscribe to a journal. As far as I know, there are no major journals dedicated to orchids but the Journal of Systematics and Evolution and Systematic Botany have each published articles on orchid evolution recently.

For orchids as whole, I can personally recommend some books from my collection that are reasonably technical and affordable.

• For a broad overview of the genera in the orchid family, consider The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Illustrated Dictionary of Orchid Genera by Alrich and Higgins.
• For cherry picked descriptions of some 1500 orchid species, consider The New Enyclopedia of Orchids by Isobyl la Croix.
• For an in-depth review of all the major sub-tribes with an introduction to orchid evolution, morphology, and phylogenetics, consider Phylogeny and Classification of the Orchid Family by Robert Dressler. If you don't have a strong biology background, you might find this book unpalatable.

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Originally Posted by The Peloric Orchid

For orchids as whole, I can personally recommend some books from my collection that are reasonably technical and affordable.

• For a broad overview of the genera in the orchid family, consider The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Illustrated Dictionary of Orchid Genera by Alrich and Higgins.
• For cherry picked descriptions of some 1500 orchid species, consider The New Enyclopedia of Orchids by Isobyl la Croix.
• For an in-depth review of all the major sub-tribes with an introduction to orchid evolution, morphology, and phylogenetics, consider Phylogeny and Classification of the Orchid Family by Robert Dressler. If you don't have a strong biology background, you might find this book unpalatable.

Thank you for the recommendations!!!!!