Frank Cervera

Biography

Frank Cervera is a biologist who has been studying the ecology, biology, and taxonomy of the genus Phragmipedium throughout natural populations for the past twenty-five years. His journey with Phragmipedium started in the 1980s when one of his ecology professors introduced him to orchids that led him to buy a plant of Phrag. longifolium. After many years of trying to get a sense of which Phragmipedium species were which, and why he was killing so many plants, Frank decided to take the matter into his own hands. His lectures are the result of Frank’s twenty-five-year sojourn to the jungles of Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, and into Brazil studying the genus Phragmipedium, its taxonomy, ecology, and culture. Along the way, Frank has met some of the most well-known names and personalities in the phragmipedium community. He has been to some of the most famous, and infamous, orchid nurseries in South America at critical times in the history of the genus and asked them to retell their stories. Frank has had the unique opportunity of going straight to the source and examining plants and flowers. Frank currently works in the Financial Services industry and resides, along with his family and his orchids, in New York.