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Synopsis This book aims at providing the readers a brief picture of the orchid wealtho f India.  The geographical regions, diverse habitats and the distribution of orchids in India, both region-wise and altitude-wise, have been provided under Ecology.  The life form, growth habit and morphology of the Indian orchids have been discussed under Morphology.  A large number of figures of the habit, inflorescence, flower, lip, column, stigma and restellum, anther and pollinia have been provided to show the extreme ranges of diversity in the vegetative and floral forms of orchids.  The flowering behaviour, flowering period and the phenology have also been discussed.  Systematics describes the orchid family, key to various subfamilies, and classification of the genera and their tribes and subtribes.  An artificial key to the 185 Indian genera, followed by the brief generic description, has been included, too.  Orchids with speciality, like having two fertile anthers; with climbing habits; and saprophytic habits, have been discussed separately.  A new species under a new genus, and three new combinations have been described.  As orchids in the wild today are subjected to various threats, measures for their conservation have been discussed separately.  The Enumeration lists 1331 taxa recorded till today in India, showing their regions of occurrence and their flowering periods.  A glossary of the botanic terms used in this book has been provided at the end.  This book will be helpful to everyone interested in Indian orchids.