Orchidées d’Europe: Fleur et Pollinisation [European Orchids: Flowers and Pollination]

Jean Claessens and Jacques Kleynen are nature photographers. After becoming familiar with the orchids, they became interested in the structure and function of the flower and began research on morphology. Since then, their studies have been the subject of numerous publications and conference presentations.

This superb book (more than 1000 photos) is an expanded and enriched edition of the book The Flower of the European Orchid, first published in English in 2011. The fruit of long years of study and shooting orchids throughout Europe, it contains many extremely detailed pictures never published elsewhere before. It covers all aspects of the orchid flower: photographs of the gynostemium, microscopic sections, photos taken in a scanning electron microscope, floral patterns, pollinating insects photographed in action on the ground, rosettes and fruit.

The text specifies the relationship between flower and pollinator. All European species are treated. Annexes provide comprehensive information on pollinators, fruiting rate, selfing, the number of seeds per capsule and even, for many species, the tilt period of the caudicles! With this book, which reveals surprising and little-known aspects of the European orchids, the authors hope to intrigue and excite the reader as much as they were during those years.
Text in French