There are lots of orchid books out there. Unfortunately, a lot of them are full of fluff, and not much useful information. The books below are the ones that I've found most useful in my own endeavors in growing, researching, and breeding orchids, from the time that I started until the present.
Many of these books can be hard to find. I've provided links to Amazon or other sellers, where available... just click the title.
| The Slipper Orchids, by Catherine Cash | I was lucky to find this one in the library while I was in graduate school... great information about Phrags! | |
| The Slipper Ochids of Vietnam by Averyanov, et al. | Excellent information about the habitat and plants, and since many are recently discovered, the information is hard to find elsewhere. | |
| The Paphiopedilum Grower's Manual by Lance Birk | Invaluable for any Paph grower. Full of detailed cultural information on a species by species basis, plus general cultural and breeding info. | |
| Tropical Slipper Orchids by H. Koopowitz | Beautifully illustrated and full of information. | |
| The Genus Paphiopedilum by P. Cribb | This was the standard reference that I used for much of my early explorations into slipper orchids (first edition). Again, full of a wealth of information, and I love the botanic illustrations. | |
| Paphiopedilum: A Monograph of All Tropical and Subtropical Asiatic Slipper-Orchids by G. Braem | Very difficult to find these days, but a classic nonetheless. | |
| The Reproduction Strategy of Papiopedilum Armeniacum, by Liu et al. | I've never actually seen this one, it just looks really cool to me. | |
| Genera Orchidacearum: Volume 1: General Introduction, Apostasioideae, Cypripedioideae by Pridgeon, Cribb, et al. | This is another that I've never managed to get my hands on, though it looks gorgeous, and the scholarship is first rate. | |