A photographic documentation of Western Palaearctic orchids

Jean Devillers-Terschuren and Pierre Devillers

Aceras
Anacamptis
Barlia
Calypso
Cephalanthera
Chamorchis
Coeloglossum
Comperia
Corallorhiza
Cypripedium
Dactylorhiza
Epipactis
Epipogium
Gennaria
Goodyera
Gymnadenia
Habenaria
Hammarbya
Herminium
Himantoglossum
Limodorum
Liparis
Listera
Malaxis
Neotinea
Neottia
Neottianthe
Nigritella
Ophrys
Orchis
Platanthera
Pseudorchis
Serapias
Spiranthes
Steveniella
Traunsteinera

Photography of live plants has played an essential role in the understanding, documentation and recording of morphological differences among European orchids. It has become a major tool in the discrimination of closely related taxa, in the definition of their specific characters, in the delimitation of species, and in the construction and evaluation of phylogenies, steps which, although they pertain primarily to evolutionary biology, are essential to conservation biology in a rich and diverse group. The conservation biology section of the Institute has accumulated a large collection of photographic documents in the course of studies started in the 1970's, focused on the correct taxonomic allocation of populations, the recognition of cryptic species, plausible hypotheses as to the correct phylogenetic affiliation of taxa and an understanding of speciation phenomena, along side the investigation of the biogeography and ecology of fragile species. Although most of the results of these studies have been published, only a small fraction of the photographic material on which they largely rested has been publicly available, because of obvious limitations in the reproduction of colour photography. The objective of this contribution is to provide online access to a substantial fraction of the Institute's collection of orchidological colour slides and to the preserved material that accompanies it.

The orchidological collection of the conservation biology section includes more than 10000 slides pertaining to more than 260 species of Western Palaearctic orchids. They are for the most part recorded on Kodachrome 64 or 200 emulsions, using a Pentax LX body fitted with an SMC Pentax M 50 mm macro lens, extension tubes and a Pentax AF O80C ring flash, or, from 1993, Canon EOS 1, EOS 5 and EOS 100 bodies, fitted with a Canon AF 100 mm f 2,8 macro lens and a Canon ML-3 ring flash, or with Canon AF 75-300 mm and AF 35-80 lenses. A small collection of exsiccata, mostly individual flowers of plants of genus Ophrys, or whole plants of genus Epipactis supplement the photographic collection, in cases where dried specimens are taxonomically informative or are needed for typification. Slides presented online are scanned at 300 dpi, using a Nikon scanner. Exsiccata are scanned at 1200 dpi, for single flowers, or at 150 dpi, for whole plants, using a Mustek 600CP scanner and a subsequent treatment by iPhoto+ or Paintshop. Scales are provided by millimetric paper in the case of single flowers, by a calibrated ruler for plants. Identification of both slides and exsiccata is provided by mention of the Institute collection number in the caption. Access to the original can thus be obtained through the Institute.

Only species represented within the collection of the Institute are included on separate species sheets. Other species are mentioned within introductory pages encountered along the pathway to the species sheets. On each species sheet an effort has been made to express the range of variation documented within the collection as well as the key characters of the taxon. When type material is preserved in the collection it is always included. Otherwise, scans of dried material are included only when they contribute to an understanding of the species. In some cases, photographs of habitats and information on distribution or aspects of the species' biology are added.

The presentation of the collection catalogue is taxonomic. Our main interest has been in species limits, the constitution of coherent, monophyletic groups within genera, and the evaluation of infrageneric phylogenies. At the genus level, at that of infrageneric assemblages, and at that of species, reasons for the arrangement chosen are briefly summarized on the relevant pages. These comments can in many cases serve as a key to the identification of the groups and the species. At taxonomic levels above the genus and all other cases for which we have no original contribution to offer, we have followed standard references, without necessarily implying particular endorsement. At the higher levels, in particular, we have adopted the classification of Dressler (1993). It is widely available and no less supported than other schemes (see also Arditti, 1992).

Dressler's (1993) scheme is as follows, restricting it to taxa represented within the Western Palaearctic. Genera in Tribe Orchideae are rearranged to take into account the results of Pridgeon et al. (1997) and Bateman et al. (1997), together with the comments of Wucherpfennig (1999). Introductory pages to genera listed and access to their constituting species are reached by clicking on the genus name below, or, conversely, on the alphabetical list of genera to the left above, which also includes widely used names recently fallen in synonymy.

Subfamily Cypripedioideae
Genus Cypripedium

Tribe Gastrodieae
Genus Epipogium

Tribe Neottieae
Genera Limodorum, Epipactis, Cephalanthera, Neottia, Listera

Tribe Cranichideae
Genera Goodyera, Spiranthes

Tribe Orchideae
Genera Coeloglossum, Dactylorhiza, Gymnadenia, Nigritella, Platanthera, Pseudorchis, Anacamptis, Barlia, Chamorchis, Comperia, Himantoglossum, Neotinea, Neottianthe, Ophrys, Orchis (including Aceras), Serapias, Steveniella, Traunsteinera, Gennaria, Herminium, Habenaria

Subfamily Malaxideae
Genera Hammarbya, Malaxis, Liparis

Subfamily Calypsoeae
Genera Calypso, Corallorhiza

A number of members of the staff and of scientific collaborators of the Conservation Biology Section have taken part in various aspects of the field work through which the photographic collection that is the base of this contribution has been constituted, among them René-Marie Lafontaine, Marie-Noël de Visscher, Paul Demaret, Marie-des-Neiges de Bellefroid, Roseline C. Beudels. Chris Kerwyn and Isabelle Bachy assist us in its management. The latter has undertaken the considerable task of treating the photographic material for its presentation online. Our orchidological work was developed in close cooperation with the Section "Orchidées d'Europe" des Naturalistes Belges. All of its members contributed to the evolution of ideas, and particularly Françoise Coulon, Jacques Duvigneaud, Pierre Delforge, Daniel Tyteca, Philippe and Eliza Toussaint-Klopfenstein, André Flausch, James Mast de Maeght , Eric Walravens, Mark Walravens, Karel Kreutz, Herman Van Looken, Roland Behr, Bruno and Janine Breuer, Marc De Keghel, Philippe Toussaint.

Arditti, J. 1992. Fundamentals of orchid biology.New York, Chichester, John Wiley and Sons. 691 pp.

Bateman, R.M., Pridgeon, A.M. & Chase, M.W. 1997. Phylogenetics of subtribe Orchidinae (Orchidoideae, Orchidaceae) based on nuclear ITS sequences. 2. Infrageneric relationships and reclassification to achieve monophyly of Orchis sensu stricto. Lindleyana 12: 113-141.

Dressler, R.L. 1993. Phylogeny and classification of the orchid family. Portland, Oregon, Dioscorides Press. 314 pp.

Pridgeon, A.M., R.M. Bateman, A.V. Cox, J.R. Hapeman and M.W. Chase. 1997. Phylogenetics of subtribe Orchidinae (Orchidoideae, Orchidaceae) based on nuclear ITS sequences. 1. Intergeneric relationships and polyphyly of Orchis sensu lato. Lindleyana 12(2): 89-109.

Wucherpfennig, W. 1999. Gedanken zu einer Neuordnung der Gattung Orchis L. - Nachtrag. Jour. Eur. Orch. 31: 329-346.