[.ca] Bulbophyllums and Their Allies: A Grower's Guide (ISBN 0881925063)

Excellent, but nonetheless disappointing:
I wasn't quite sure how to rate it, and decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, as it were. I'd be tempted to give it a 3.5 because while it's very good, it's faults are rather glaring, IMO. Coverage of species is, overall, far better than any work I know of (and certainly better than anything easily available), but there are relatively few pictures, and not a single line drawing for any of the species not pictured -- out of 550 species and hybrids mentioned, there are only 77 photos! I don't know whether that was Ms. Siegerist's doing or Timber Press cutting back on production costs, but it's a glaring gap. I've been waiting for this book for months, and while I'm not sorry I bought it and will refer to it often, I was expecting more.

Could be a lot better...:
The pictures are nice. On the other hand, relatively few of the plants are pictured, and the descriptions are often too general. There's usually some detail, such as petal length, etc., but few of the flowers are described in a manner that would allow you to know what it looks like. Some of the cultural information includes a prescription to use "nice media" or other not-so-useful text. Most of the descriptions are accompanied by some elevation information, or at least temperature guidelines, and watering information. I think this book is best used if you have a plant in mind, have a pretty good idea of what the flower looks like, and want to find out if you have a good chance at making it happy. Since the book isn't all that expensive, this and the pictures probably provide enough value to warrant a purchase. If the descriptions were better, this book would be a must-have.