Orchid Species: Pattonia macrantha

ORIGIN: A large to giant sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte and occasional lithophyte occurring in lowland forests near streams and rivers at elevations of 100 to 1200 meters in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Borneo, Java, Moluccas, the Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Bismark Islands, Papua and New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

DESCRIPTION: A large to giant sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte and occasional lithophyte occurring in lowland forests near streams and rivers at elevations of 100 to 1200 meters in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Borneo, Java, Moluccas, the Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Bismark Islands, Papua and New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and is recorded to be the heaviest orchid in the world and is capable of becoming huge in cultivation. They have erect to spreading, very long, cylindric, yellowish with age, many ridged and noded pseudobulbs enveloped completely by leafless and leaf-bearing sheaths and carrying thin textured, distichous, linear or ovate, obtuse or acute, decurved in apical half leaves that are articulated to the basal leaf sheaths and blooms in the fall and early winter as well as in the summer and have a 4 to 10 foot [120 to 300 cm] long, basal, erect to arching, racemose, many flowered inflorescence that carry 30 to 50 sometimes fragrant, waxy, successively opening, long-lasting flowers with the lowest flowers being imperfect and distant. This species has erect, spreading or drooping pseudobulbs that can be up to 3 meters long and leaves that go well up the stem giving them more of a palm tree look. Can be slow to bloom, plants need to be large and have a lot of backbulbs and even still the orchid can be sporadic, at best, to bloom. This species is often found in conjunction with ants and may benefit from their presence.

FLOWER SIZE: 5 to 8 inches [12.5 to 20 cm] -- information provided by Jay Pfahl, author of the Internet Orchid Species Encyclopedia (IOSPE).

Most awarded/recent cultivars: Gram. speciosum 'Maritza' (2 awards in 2015) Gram. speciosum 'JDA' (2 awards in 2012) Gram. speciosum 'Valda' (2 awards in 2007) Gram. speciosum 'Vaughn' (2 awards from 1963 to 1966) Gram. speciosum 'Paraiso' (2012) Gram. speciosum 'Marianne Giraud' (2011) Gram. speciosum 'Myriam' (2010) Gram. speciosum 'Kevin' (1995) Gram. speciosum 'Mele' (1989) Gram. speciosum 'Oak Hill' (1987) Gram. speciosum 'Dorothy Jean' (1987) Gram. speciosum 'Orchid Jungle' (1978)