Hiya. The subject-title is a bit misleading; the website isn't new, but it has been enormously expanded over the last few months. The expansion has now reached the point where it has become a seriously useful source of information for anyone interested in S.E.Asian orchids. One huge difference between this website and other orchid sites is that this one is authoritative. It has the experts from a world-renowned botanical institution behind it. The website belongs to the National Herbarium Nederland. Main page is at:
http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/pubs/orchidweb/ The first two links on this page are the original ones ... selling NHN orchid publications. The bottom two links are where the treasure lies. The last link takes you to a page that is being developed as an illustrated checklist of the orchids of Laos: http://www.orchisasia.org/orchids%20list.html While this might not sound tremendously relevant, anyone who has bought unidentified plants from Vietnam should check this site. Not only is there a high degree of overlap between Vietnamese orchids and Lao orchids, but many of the plants you buy as "Vietnamese origin" were actually collected in Laos. There is also considerable overlap between Laos and it's other neighbours, so you might find your unidentified Thai or Chinese species here. The third link on the main page (Malesian Orchid Genera Illustrated) takes you to the place where serious development will occur in the future: http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/pubs/orchidweb/Malesian%20orchid%20genera.htm At the moment this site is just highly useful. The NHN staff (mainly Andre Schuiteman) intend to expand it until it becomes a one-stop on-line repository of just about everything that you could possibly want to know about orchids from the Malesian region, ie Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, East Timor, New Guinea and Philippines. Before you dive into the genus-by genus illustrated guide, try clicking on the map of the area. OGD members are constantly asking what books exist for on a certain area .... well, here is a complete, region-by-region listing. If you've got a S.E.Asian species, but are not certain what genus it belongs in, try clicking on the "synoptical key" button, and it may give you an answer. And look at those genus names ... there are no Rhytionanthos or Tetrabaculum species here .... just Bulbophyllum and Dendrobium .... names as they ought to be. Have a good browse, and remember to bookmark it ... this site is going places. Cheers, Peter O'Byrne (A proud contributor)
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