Cattleya maxima Lindley 1833 SUBGENUS Cattleya SECTION Maximae Withner 1988

Photo by © Jay Pfahl

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Common Name The Greatest Cattleya; In South America Flor de Navidad or Christmas Flower

Flower Size 5" [12.5 cm]

Found in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and northern coastal Peru at elevations of 10 to 1500 meters in seasonally dry, coastal forests A medium sized, cool to warm growing, unifoliate, epiphyte and occasional lithophyte from with clavate, lightly complante, sulcate pseudobulbs subtended by several, imbricating, nonfoliaceous sheaths and a single, apical, oblong or narrowly elliptic-oblong, clasping, obtuse, minutely bilobed, thickly coriaceous leaf and blooms in the fall through the winter on a terminal, to 12" [30 cm] long, erect or arching, few to several flowered, racemose inflorescence arising on a mature pseudobulb subtended with a large, basal, elongate sheath from which arise 3 to 15, long-lived, fragrant helioptrope t osweet pea scented, somewhat heavy textured flowers that are held just at or above leaf height.

Synonyms Cattleya malouana L. Linden & Rodigas 1986; Cattleya maxima f. alba (A.H.Kent) L.Becker 2014; Cattleya maxima f. aphlebia (Rchb.f.) Roeth 2010; Cattleya maxima subvar. alba A.H.Kent 1887; Cattleya maxima var. aphlebia Rchb.f. 1884; Cattleya maxima var. backhousii Rchb.f. 1885; Cattleya maxima var. hrubyana L.Linden & Rodigas 1885; Cattleya maxima var. marchettiana B.S.Williams 1891; Epidendrum maximum [Lindl.]Rchb.f 1861

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1854 drawing fide; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1856; Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1878 as Epidendrum maxima; Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1862 as Epidendrum maximum; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 photo good; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 drawing fide; Orchids of Malaya Holttum 1957; AOS Bulletin Vol 26 No 8 1957 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 9 1958 drawing ok; Orchids of Peru Schweinfurth 1958; AOS Bulletin Vol 29 No 2 1960; AOS Bulletin Vol 29 No 11 1960 photo ok; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; AOS Bulletin Vol 39 No 5 1970; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 10 576 - 632 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 photo fide; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 019 Dodson 1980 drawing fide; Orquideologia Vol 15 #1 Luer & Escobar 1981; Growing Orchids Vol 2 Rentoul 1982; An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1982; AOS Bulletin Vol 56 No 1 1987 photo fide; Orchids of Venezuela Dunsterville 1987 draqwing/photo fide; Orchids from The Coast Of Ecuador Arosemana, Jurado, Estrada and Konanz 1988 photo fide; The Cattleya and their Relatives Withner Vol 1 1988 photo fide; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; The Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb and Laurent 1992 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 62 No 5 1993 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 62 No 5 1993 as C maxima var coerula photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 62 No 5 1993 as C maxima var delicata photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 62 No 5 1993 as C maxima var semi-alba photo fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 1 Dodson 1993 drawing/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum plate 012 Bennett & Christenson 1993 drawing fide; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; AOS Bulletin Vol 66 No 3 1997 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 69 No 12 2000 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 70 No 5 2001 drawing fide; Botanica's Orchids Laurel Glen 2002; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 1 2003 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 73 No 1 2004 photo fide; Flora Of Ecuador # 76 225[2] Dodson & Luer 2005 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 9 2005 photo fide; Flora's Orchids Nash & La Croix 2005; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 5 2006 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 9 2006 photo fide; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Orquideas del Peru Freuler 2010 photo fide; Las Orquideas del Peru Izerskyy & Bezverhov 2011 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 81 #1 2012 photo fide; as C maxima var coerula; Orchids, A Colombian Treasure Vol 1 Ortiz & Uribe 2014 photo fide; Orquideas de Zamora Chinchipe Tomo 1 Epidendroideae Jimenez & Jimenez 2014; Orchids of Tropical America an introduction and guide Meisel 2014 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 79 #4 2015 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 84 #2 2015 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #2 2016; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #3 2016 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #1 2016 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #3 2016 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #10 2016 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #11 2016 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #2 2017 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 # 7 2017 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #8 2017 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #9 2017 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #12 2017 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 # 1 2019 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 #2 2019 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 89 #2 2020 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 89 #11 2020 photo fide;

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Cattleya maxima Lindley 1831 var alba Subgen Cattleya sec Maximae Withner 1988 Photo by © David Hunt

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids from The Coast Of Ecuador Arosemana, Jurado, Estrada and Konanz 1988 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 69 No 10 2000 as C maxima var alba photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 1 2003 photo fide; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 79 #4 2015 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #12 2016 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #8 2017 as C maxima var virginalis photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 #7 2019 photo fide;

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