“Period color plates, black-and-white illustrations, and woodcuts enhance this wonderfully entertaining book.” —Library Journal
“Berliocchi’s perceptive and richly descriptive narrative is certain to please orchid lovers, and will most likely spark the interest of those who have yet to discover these fascinating flowers.” —Booklist
“Berliocchi’s comprehensive handbook is both elegantly written and enriching.” —Publishers Weekly
“Exquisite botanical illustrations complement the definitive text.” —Country Living Gardener
“An authority on orchids. . . . provides nice thumbnail biographies of the major collectors and botanists who brought orchids from the tropics.” —Garden Gazette
“An utterly fascinating survey of orchids.” —Washington Daily News
“This is a very delightful, readable book.” —National Gardener
“This book, which spans every aspect of the plant from literary associations to care and cultivation, is a love letter to a genus from a man clearly passionately obsessed.” —Gardens Illustrated
“There has been no better book than this on the extraordinary story of the orchid.” —The Washington Post
“This is an amply researched and richly descriptive cornucopia of orchid lore.” —American Herb Association Quarterly Newsletter
“It is a quick, yet satisfying initiation, a brisk walk through a museum that leaves one acquainted, if a little breathless, with an amazing collection of lovely plants.” —Journal of the New England Garden History Society