Australian Orchids

'Australian Orchids' written by Robert D. Fitzgerald was published in 2 volumes - made up of 12 parts - in 1882. The work is "dedicated to the memory of the late Charles Darwin as a token of the veneration in which that great naturalist and fearless expounder of science is held by the author."

The exquisite lithograph plates by Arthur James Stopps depict Fitzgerald's dissections of orchids, and were hand-coloured following his samples and instructions. 'Australian Orchids' made Fitzgerald famous in the botanical world, and Joseph Dalton Hooker another botanist, considered the work one "which would be an honour to any country and to any Botanist".

The plate at the top of this page is from Part 5, October 1879, and features a Dendrobium falcorostrum found in mountain scrub near the Macleay River.

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