Vietnam has a remarkable and diverse orchid flora that is still being explored and described. The slipper orchids, a small but showy part of the flora, epitomize the exuberance of Vietnam's orchids. This book provides comprehensive accounts of the history, nomenclature, and relationships of each of the 22 slipper orchid species and natural hybrids found within the country. It provides the first detailed accounts of their habitats, biology, and ecology, and highlights the imminent threat of extinction faced by many of them. This book also surveys non-orchid flora, and it will enthrall the reader with descriptions of Vietnam and its unique environment, rich flora, and endemic plants.

Professor Leonid Averyanov (Komarov Institute, St Petersburg), was born in St Petersburg in 1955. He graduated from the State University there in 1977 and obtained his Ph.D. in 1983 on the floristics and phytogeography of Eurasia. He is an authority on the Vietnamese orchid flora and the author of the standard account of them. He has undertaken many expeditions, in collaboration with his co-authors, in Vietnam and has discovered many new orchids there Dr. Phillip Cribb (The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), was born in Sussex, England in 1946. He graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1968 and was awarded his Ph.D. in 1972. He specialises in the systematics of tropical orchids, and is the author of many scientific papers and books on orchids. He is a leading authority on slipper orchids and the author of monographs of the slipper orchid genera Cypripedium and Paphiopedilum Professor Phan Ke Loc (Professor of Botany, Vietnam National University (HNU) Hanoi) was born in Vinh Phuc, Hanoi in 1935. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Forestry Academy, Leningrad, now St Petersburg, in 1969. He is an acknowledged authority on the Vietnamese flora and has taken a leading role in cataloguing its extraordinary diversity. He has studied the flora of the limestone regions of the northern part of Vietnam for many years. Over the past few years he has led several government-sponsored field surveys in the region. He is the author of many scientific articles on the plants of the country Dr. Nguyen Tien Hiep (Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR), Vietnam National Centre for Natural Science and Technology (NCST) was born in Hai Dong province, Vietnam in 1947. He graduated from the University of Hanoi in 1968 and obtained his Ph.D. at the Komarov Institute in Leningrad, now St Petersburg, in 1982. He has held many senior scientific positions in Vietnam and is a leading authority on the Vietnamese Flora. He has led many botanical expeditions through-out Vietnam