Skip Navigation

Annals of Botany 2009 104(3):359-364; doi:10.1093/aob/mcp190
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fay, M. F.
Right arrow Articles by Chase, M. W.
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Fay, M. F.
Right arrow Articles by Chase, M. W.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Fay, M. F.
Right arrow Articles by Chase, M. W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

This article appears in the following Annals of Botany issue: Special Issue: Orchid Biology [View the issue table of contents]

Orchid biology: from Linnaeus via Darwin to the 21st century

Michael F. Fay* and Mark W. Chase

Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB, UK

* For correspondence. E-mail m.fay{at}kew.org

Received: 29 June 2009    Returned for revision: 2 July 2009    Accepted: 14 July 2009   

Orchidaceae are the largest family of flowering plants, with at least 24 000 species, and perhaps better than any other family of flowering plants, orchids represent the extreme specializations that are possible. As a result, they have long fascinated luminaries of the botanical world including Linnaeus and Darwin, but the size of the family has historically been an impediment to their study. Specifically, the lack of detailed information about relationships within the family made it difficult to formulate explicit evolutionary hypotheses for such a large group, but the advent of molecular systematics has revolutionized our understanding of the orchids. Their complex life histories make orchids particularly vulnerable to environmental change, and as result many are now threatened with extinction. In this Special Issue we present a series of 20 papers on orchid biology ranging from phylogenetics, floral evolutionary development, taxonomy, mycorrhizal associations, pollination biology, population genetics and conservation.

Key words: Conservation, Darwin, evo-devo, Linnaeus, mycorrhizas, orchids, Orchidaceae, phylogenetics, pollination


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Plant Cell PhysiolHome page
G. Suzuki
Recent Progress in Plant Reproduction Research: The Story of the Male Gametophyte through to Successful Fertilization
Plant Cell Physiol., November 1, 2009; 50(11): 1857 - 1864.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.