The New Refugium Botanicum or Figures and Descriptions of Rare and Little Known Orchids From the Living Collection of Lankaster Botanical Garden at the University of Costa Rica With Watercolours by Sylvia Strigari. Part 1. Tables 1-16 with descriptions by Franco Pupulin, Jaime Aguilar,Noelia Belfort Oconitrillo, Diego Bogarin, Isler Chinchilla, Melissa Diaz, Melania Fernandez, Adam P. Karremans, L

FOREWORD
Orchid enthusiasts who may have missed the new Refugium Botanicum published in Orchids, the journal of the American Orchid Society between 2015 and 2021, now have an opportunity to purchase this
important work in fascicles.

The New Refugium Botanicum of Pupulin, Strigari, and collaborators is a worthy addition to the original work, published by William Wilson Saunders
(1809-1879) in five volumes between 1868 and 1879 and including a total of 360 plates. As described in the first issue of the New Refugium Botanicum in Orchids, only the second volume illustrated Orchidaceae, which included 218 plates published between 1869 and 1872: the descriptions were provided by H. G. Reichenbach filius (1824—1889) and
all the drawings based on living plants at their natural size.

Pupulin and Strigaris’ work also expands upon three other more recent illustrated works published n the same format (elephant folio), published by
Carl A. Luer (1922—2019) and collaborators: Thesaurus Masdevalliarum (28 fascicles, 1983-2006, Verlag Helga Königer, Munich), Thesaurus Dracularum (7 fascicles, 1988-1994, Missouri Botanical Press, St. Louis), and Thesaurus Woolwardiae (four fascicles, 1993, Missouri Botanical Garden Press in Association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew),
all of which illustrated orchids life-size. For this new Refugium, Strigari’s original plates, likewise, illustrate all the species at natural size. In addition, the line drawings that accompany Strigaris’ watercolors clearly indicate the accurate size of each plant and parts thereof. I would like to emphasize that, as Pupulin informed me, the editor and publisher of the present work found the original printer of Luer et al.’s works to print the new Refugium, thus ensuring the same quality in reproduction and the quality of the paper on which it is printed.

As one might expect, the new Refugium Botanicum is the product of contemporary science and for this reason it incorporates much new information
into the texts that accompany the plates, including that derived from the study of plant DNA. This tool, which would have been a dream for Reichenbach filius, has produced significant changes in the classification of orchids, many of which arereflected in the adoption of names that may perhaps seem unusual to the reader. But it should not be forgotten
that the classification of plants based on phylogenetic relationships suggested by DNA is not yet a mature system, and subjective interpretations as to the use of certain names will undoubtedly continue
for some time to come.

The present work excels in beauty. Strigari’s plates are extraordinary: I cannot praise her artwork enough. Although generally entirely in color,
her watercolors often include details in black and white (e.g. Trichoglottis philippinensis Lindl.). She captured textures to in remarkable detail, as shown n her plate of Huntleya burtii (Endrés & Rchb.f.)Pfitzer. Likewise, the line drawings that complementStrigaris’ watercolors, executed by a variety of botanical artists (including Pupulin) are extraordinary and informative: I will not cite any in particular,as all the ones I scrutinized are of this exceptionalquality.

Although, naturally, the coverage shows a preference towards orchid species found in Costa Rica and more in general in the Neotropics, the
new Refugium also includes species and their varieties from the Old World, such as Paphiopedilum glanduliferum (Blume) Stein, Phalaenopsis lobbii
(Rchb.f.) H.R. Sweet, and Rhynchostylis gigantea (Lindl.) Ridl., featured in this fascicle, as well as Angraecum sesquipedale Thouars, which fascinated Charles Darwin, the extraordinary Bulbophyllum medusae (Lindl.) Rchb.f., Coelogyne lawrenceana Rolfe, Cymbidium ensifolium (L.) Sw., Dendrobium macrophyllum A. Rich., Diplocaulobium lageniforme
(J.J. Sm.) Kraenzl., Grammatophyllum multiflorum Lindl., Phalaenopsis japonica (Linden & Rchb.f.) Kocyan & Schuit., P. lueddemanniana Rchb.f., P. mariae Burb. ex Warn. & B.S.Wms., P. violacea Witte, Trichotosia velutina (Lodd. ex Lindl.) Kraenzl., and Vanda tricolor Hook., which will appear in future releases of this work. Overall, the authors cover species
from four of the currently accepted subfamilies of Orchidaceae, Cypripedioideae, Epidendroideae, Higher Epidendroideae, and Vanilloideae.

I am confident that the new Refugium will find a wide audience, attracted to the beauty of Strigari’s artwork, the accurate line drawings, the informative text, the finesse of Pupulin’s editorship, and the quality
of reproduction.

(Forword by GUSTAVO A. ROMERO-GONZÁLEZ
Keeper, Orchid Herbarium Oakes Ames
Harvard University Herbaria)

Part 1 contains colored plates of the following species:

Echinorhyncha litensis
Epidendrum cocoense
Galeottia grandiflora
Brassia verrucosa
Encyclia alata
Guarianthe skinneri
Lycaste lasioglossa
Specklinia endotrachys
Brassavola acaulis
Rhynchostylis gigantea
Masdevallia fonsecae
Masdevallia reichenbachiana
Phalaenopsis lobbii
Leptotes bicolor
Paphiopedilum glanduliferum
Teuscheria horichiana