Welcome to Orchilibra

Announcement – Berne, 25th August 2021

My beloved Ruedi, our dear father, father-in-law, brother, brother-in-law and friend


Rudolf Jenny

July 26, 1953 - August 10, 2021


left us completely unexpected. A brain hemorrhage tore him from his active, interesting and colorful life. Shocked, we had to let him go. He was buried on Thursday, August 10th, in the presence of his family and closest friends.

In Memory of Rudolf Jenny, the BibliOrchidea Database will remain online and freely accessible. However, there will be no further updates and no copy-on-demand service.

Rudolf Jenny nearly finished the Gongora Monography together with Günter Gerlach, and the book will be available in 2022 in the online shop.

For urgent requests, please contact [email protected].




About Rudolf Jenny


Rudolf Jenny is chemist by training and was active in environmental and ozone-technology, for some years with an own company until his retirement in 2008.


He has been working with orchids for more than 45 years, had a very large collection of tropical orchid plants until 1995. Over many years, he has travelled in Central and South America in connection with his studies in pollination ecology and taxonomy of orchids. He has published some 500 articles in many of the world’s leading orchid journals and published monographs of the genera Gongora, Stanhopea, Paphinia and Sievekingia. Recently he published the second part of the book-series about the history of orchids and the history of the involved collectors, amateurs, botanists and growers (…of men and orchids…).


He is regular lecturer at conferences around the world and owner of one of the most complete orchid libraries in private hands. He maintains BibliOrchidea, the world’s largest and free accessible database for orchid literature with more than 182’000 entries, covering about 90 % of the existing literature.


He is research associate at the Jany Renz Herbarium, University of Basel, Switzerland, honorary member and secretary general of the European Orchid Council, honorary member of the German Orchid Society, fellow of the Orchid Society of South East Asia and member of the Orchid Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society. In addition to orchids cave-climbing has been a hobby for many years.


  • Research Associate Swiss Orchid Foundation, Jany Renz Herbarium, University of Basel, Switzerland
  • Secretary General of the European Orchid Council
  • Board member of the Erich Nelson Foundation, Berne, Switzerland
  • Board member of the Foundation Orchidée, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Member of the Orchid Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society
  • Member of the International Orchid Committee
  • Member of the International Association of Plant Taxonomists (IAPT)
  • Honorary member of the South East Asian Orchid Society (OSSEA)
  • Honorary member of the German Orchid Society


Member of:

  • Swiss Orchid Society
  • British Orchid Council
  • American Orchid Society
  • Australian Orchid Council
  • Hardy Orchid Society
  • International Phalaenopsis Alliance
  • Société des Orchidophiles de France
  • Pleurothallid Alliance (USA)


 

Publications (Books):

  • Monograph of the genus Gongora Ruiz & Pavon, 1993 (ISBN 3-87429-332-7) out of print
  • The Stanhopea Book, 2010 (ISBN 978-3-905656-03-9) available
  • ..of men and orchids…, Part 1, 2015 (ISBN 978-9942-21-232-0) available
  • ..of men and orchids…, Part 2, 2017 (ISBN 978-9942-28-312-2) available
  • Stanhopea, species and hybrids, 2015, Supplementum to Orchids, the Bulletin of the American Orchid Society available
  • The genus Stanhopea, 1th part – S.anfracta to S.napoensis, in Caesiana, Vol.21, 2003 (ISSN 1123-5217) out of print
  • The genus Stanhopea, 2nd part – S.nigripes to S.xytriophora, in Caesiana, Vol.22, 2004 (ISSN 1123-5217) out of print
  • Orchids in the life of Auguste R.Endres (Carlos Ossenbach, Franco Pupulin & Rudolf Jenny), Vol.1 & 2, 2013 (ISBN 978-3-902421-77-7) available


Publications (Articles):

More than 550 papers in the leading orchid-journals, another 50 in cooperation with other authors

Lectures

  • The subtribe Stanhopeinae, European Orchid Conference 2000, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • The subtribe Stanhopeinae, 17th World Orchid Conference 2002, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Stanhopeinae, an old subtribe in new light, 18th World Orchid Conference 2005, Dijon, France
  • Genera of the subtribe Stanhopeinae in need of monographic treatment, 19th World Orchid Conference 2008, Miami, USA
  • Orchids without flowers?, European Orchid Conference 2009, Dresden
  • Reliable Orchid literature, European Orchid Conference 2012, Budapest, Hungary
  • Switzerland and Cost Rica, European Orchid Conference 2015, London

Other Activities

  • Chair Symposium “Orchids and Computer” at the 16th World Orchid Conference 2001, Vancouver
  • Chair Symposium “Orchids and Computer” at the 17th World Orchid Conference 2002, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Chair Symposium “Orchids and Computer” at the 18th World Orchid Conference 2005, Dijon, France
  • Chair Symposium “Orchids and Computer” at the 20th World Orchid Conference 2011, Singapore

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