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Posted by Clare Coleman What do other people think?? Also, a signifcant proportion of Wildguide profits go towards conservation charities, this book's to the Wildlife Trusts. Clare
on 3/5/2005, 6:57 pm, in reply to "Re: Mystery orchid"
62.255.64.11
I think these are Early Purples too - the scent is honey-like and sweet when the flowers first open and then becomes unpleasant - probably after pollination has ocurred (as insects no longer need to be attracted), but I don't know if this has been scientifically investigated.
It might say about this in David Lang's new book "Britain's Orchids" (Wildguides series, £15 i think from natural history booksellers like www.summerfield-books.com or www.nhbs.com). This is the only currently in-print field guide on British orchids, although there are several more due to be published this year. David is an excellent and well-respected botanist who has specialised in orchids for many years - so I would trust his book rather more than other books written by people who may be keen on orchids and photography but who lack this level of experience.
I know that one of these other books might be using a new orchid classification (resulting from recent genetic work) - without going into any reasons, basically my view (as a trained plant taxonomist) is that this is a bit premature and will only confuse people who just need a working name for the plants - bit silly for a book aimed at the general public. This new classificaiton, and the name changes it requires, are not mandatory to follow - as author, you can choose to follow which ever classificaiton you like - and the most sensible would be that in Stace's New Flora of the British Isles 2nd edition, at least for now. Once the orchid genetic work is complete and Stace has adopted it, that would be the time to use it in a mass-market book like this. But of course not everyone would agree with me - this is just my view as someone who teaches botany beginners and is aware of the issues they face.
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