An in-depth look at India’s 1,200 species of orchids.
 
The Indian subcontinent—rightfully renowned for its ecological lushness—is home to more than 1,200 species of orchids, about a quarter of which can be found nowhere else on the planet. Fortunately, the Missouri Botanical Garden Press’s new book enumerates and carefully classifies each one, following the latest insights from molecular phylogenetic studies. A Checklist of the Orchidaceae of India features typification, synonymy, distribution, habit, and conservation, as well as a key to the identification of orchid genera. The book is part of the Checklist of Indian Plants, a major collaborative project spearheaded by Peter H. Raven of the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, and the Harvard University Herbaria.