Professor Steve Johnson (left) and Dr Benny Bytebier with their newly released book: Orchids of South Africa – A Field Guide.New Field Guide to SA Orchids by UKZN Botanists
UKZN Botanists, Professor Steve Johnson and Dr Benny Bytebier, both of the School of Life Sciences on the Pietermaritzburg campus, have just released a new book titled: Orchids of South Africa – A Field Guide.
The book - the first complete field guide to local orchids to be published in more than 30 years - covers nearly 500 orchid species found in the country as well as in Lesotho and Swaziland.
Moreover, Orchids of South Africa showcases extraordinary photographs by renowned Austrian photographer Herbert Stärker, who with his wife, Helga, has traversed the region since 2006, travelling around 370 000 kilometres to capture orchids in their natural habitat.
Johnson and Bytebier’s new book covers almost all local orchid species ‘from the more common to the extremely rare; from the less remarkable to the brazenly beautiful’. Said Bytebier: ‘It includes those that are most secretive and inaccessible – flowering ephemerally or clinging to life in remnant habitat pockets.’
Stärker’s treasure-trove of images has been combined with the orchid expertise of Johnson and Bytebier, both noted specialists in the field. Johnson, an NRF A-rated scientist, holds the South African Research Chair in Evolutionary Biology, is a leading international expert in the field of plant pollination biology, and is also a co-author of a previous book, The Cape Orchids.
Bytebier holds an NRF C-rating and is curator of the Bews Herbarium based on the Pietermaritzburg campus. His research focuses on the systematics, biogeography and evolutionary history of African orchids.
As a field guide, Orchids of South Africa offers multiple photographs for each species; succinct text, enabling sure identification; calendar bars showing flowering seasons as well as distribution maps and up-to-date science. An illustrated introduction discusses orchid structure, ecology and conservation status, and a comprehensive key to genera is included to reflect the latest taxonomy.
Informative, colourful and easy to use, Orchids of South Africa has been hailed as the product of rare and invaluable dedication – an essential guide for orchid enthusiasts everywhere. The 536-page book, published by Struik Nature, costs R350.
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