A partisan of the 'natural' system of Jussieu rather than the Linnaean, Lindley writes, in his preface to this 1830 work, that it was originally created for his own use, to avoid having recourse to 'rare, costly and expensive publications' ...

This book is a must-read for orchid enthusiasts, botanists, and anyone interested in the natural world. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.