Deceptive Beauties
The World of Wild Orchids
“Orchids are one of the most diverse and successful families of plants, and can be found in almost every corner of the world. Christian Ziegler captures their beauty through his spectacular photographs, unveiling their mysteries and giving us an insight into their fascinating natural history.”
“Orchid flowers have long been understood to be ridiculously fascinating, and this book shows just that, gorgeously. They certainly merit the ‘Oh my’ reputation they have acquired over the centuries. But, the problem for us mere mortals is that even if most lucky, we only bump into one in the wild every now and then. And here you have many of their kinds all at once, as though you were incredibly lucky in the forest, though of course there is no place or date on earth when you can see them like this. This new look is a fantastic and fantasmatic companion for any day when you are lucky enough to encounter one of these flowers, so unique as to turn any flower show into oatmeal.”
“The images are stunning, a glory of colors and shapes, but this book offers much more. Ziegler—a trained biologist, as well as photographer—shows these remarkable plants in the context of their habitat: marsh, semi-desert, tropical forest. That—and his astonishing photographs of orchids and their pollinators—reminds us how clever, precious, and diverse nature can be, and why conservation matters.”
“Orchids, often rare and tied to specific areas, are increasingly threatened by habitat loss and over-collecting. Ziegler's book creates an unforgettable portrait of this incredibly diverse plant family, and through their beauty, engineering, and intricacy, he highlights the fragile interplay of life on this planet.”
"Photographer Christian Ziegler captures these sex symbols of the plant world in 150 portraits taken on five continents in environments ranging from tropical cloud forest to semidesert."—Scientific American
“Deceptive Beauties pairs gorgeous photographs by former biologist Christian Ziegler with a fascinating story of evolution and survival.”
Biological Sciences: Botany | Natural History
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