LANKESTERIANAin the country were also studied.The study and description of all new taxa were supervised by many orchid specialists.Twenty-seven new species and three new chorological records for the Colombian flora have been reported, represented as following for these genera: Acianthera Schweid.(2 new species), Campylocentrum Benth.(1 new species), Epidendrum L. (13 new species), Lepanthes Sw. (7 new species and two new records), Lockhartia Hook.(1 new species), Stelis Sw. (1 new species), and Telipogon Kunth (2 new species and one new record).Despite the high level of perturbation of these ecosystems and human pressures, orchid diversity and the amount of endemism are surprisingly high compared to those of similar, protected ecosystems from the same region.Nevertheless, the scarcity of populations of some of the new species demonstrates 1) the importance and utility of floristic inventories and protection of the orchid diversity of Colombian forests and páramos and 2) the need for urgent short-and long-term conservation strategies in order to save Colombian wild orchid populations from extinction.