This book is a journey through our knowledge about orchids, starting with orchid fossils, age issues, and study of extinction rates of orchids, moving on to an overview of the national orchid flora of less explored regions, chorological contributions, and ecological studies, and finally covering developments in orchid breeding through genetic engineering. The main objective of the book is to familiarize the reader with the basic features of the family Orchidaceae from various aspects. Eight chapters by expert authors cover the characteristics, distribution, ecology, and taxonomy of orchids.