In 2009, I heard on television that, in about a hundred years, the emperor penguins of Antarctica will be almost decimated due to the rise in our planet's temperature, which will lead to difficulties in their living conditions as well as in the incubation of these beautiful birds. I then reflected on how abundant our orchids were 20-30 years ago! The rate at which our earth is being destroyed and our animals and plants are disappearing is incredible!

The book has come to an end. Over thirty years of research and work have been condensed into its six hundred twenty pages. Perhaps it does not reach perfection, perhaps for certain species the research and study are incomplete, perhaps some photographs are not the most representative, perhaps more travels will be needed to explore all those places we could not visit and all those species we could not see up close and clarify –if possible– their existence.

However, the effort to showcase all of this inexhaustible wealth of our homeland has been largely achieved. And we say inexhaustible because every day that passes we learn something new, and the species, subspecies, and varieties of these beautiful and dazzling flowers around us continue to multiply and surprise us. So together, dear reader, we will discover this exciting and dazzling world of orchids in Greece.

Significant effort has been made to simplify the presentation and to ensure that the continuously expanding addition of new species, subspecies, and varieties is understood as well as possible. We believe that this edition includes the complete listing of all names and all species referred to in the Greek area, up to the end of 2012. Obviously, two or three species may not occur in Greece. However, we included them so that anyone interested can recognize them if they encounter them, thus completing the recording and counting of the Greek wealth.

Of course, the research for locating, studying, and clarifying certain species does not stop. It will continue in the coming years. The journey into the exciting and enchanting world of orchids continues...