Die Orchideen von Rhodos und Karpathos / The Orchids of Rhodes and Karpathos

Abstract

For many people who are interested in botany, and who especially want to get to know the orchids of the East Aegean, Rhodes was and is a popular travel destination. Almost every nature-enthusiast, who is interested in Mediterranean orchids, has visited Rhodes once - or maybe even several times. This can be explained by the fact that Rhodes has always been easy to reach by plane, and on the island itself there are orchid species which can easily be reached by car. Unfortunately, nowadays many habitats, especially in the coastal regions, are threatened or have already been lost to mass tourism.
In the last ten years, Karpathos is also visited more often. This island, situated southwestwards from Rhodes, presents an abundance of orchid biotopes and a multitude of species, especially in the southern and central parts of the island.
The most recent status of research into the orchid species, still a relatively young plant family, which is characterized by its beauty and its interesting pollination biology, is documented for both islands. All data that were at the disposal of the author can be found in this book, supplimented with the knowledge and experience of the author.
Besides chapters on geography, geology, climate, vegetation, protection and threat, this book also treats the taxonomy and nomenclature of the entire orchid flora on both islands. Special attention is given to the difficult species groups of Ophrys holoserica s.l., Ophrys oestrifera and Ophrys fusca. Furthermore, doubtful findings and false identifications are illustrated by detailed arguments.
Numerous, photographs of all orchid species are shown. Furthermore, some hybrids, as well as various biotopes are also pictured. Detailed distribution maps in a UTM-1 km grid give an overview of the distribution of the 73 orchid species of both islands, which are known until now.