Cattleya maxima Lindley 1833 SUBGENUS Cattleya SECTION Maximae Withner 1988
Photo by © Jay Pfahl
TYPE Drawing of C maxima var marchettiana
TYPE Drawing by © B S Williams
Cattleya maxima Lindley 1831 var alba
Photo by © David Hunt
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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 Ecuador and northern coastal Peru at elevations of 10 to 1500 meters in seasonally dry, coastal forests as a medium sized, cool to warm growing, unifoliate, epiphyte and occasional lithophyte 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, arising on a mature pseudobulb subtended with a large, basal, elongate sheath from which arise 3 to 15 flowered, racemose inflorescence carrying long-lived, fragrant helioptrope to sweet 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 ;
* Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 116 Lindley 1833
Xenia Orchidaceae 1:225 Rchb.f 1858 drawing fide;
Bonplandia 2:21 Rchb.f 1854 as Epidendrum maxima ;
Ann. Bot. Syst. 6: 316 Rchb.f 1861 as Epidendrum maximum;
Otia Botanica Hamburgensia 26 Rchb.f 1878 as Epidendrum maxima;
Xenia Orchidaceae 2: 29 Rchb.f 1874 as Epidendrum maximum;
Gard. Chron., n.s., 22: 394 Rchb.f 1884 as C maxima var aphlebia;
Lindenia 1: 90 Linden 1885 as C malouana;
Gard. Chron., n.s., 24: 142 Rchb.f 1885 as C maxima var backhousii
Lindenia 1: 29 L Linden & Rodigas 1885 as C maxima var hrubyana
Man. Orchid. Pl. 1: 44 A H Kent 1887 as C maxima subvar alba;
Orchid Album 9: t. 404 B S Williams 1891 as C maxima var marchettiana;
Orchid Album 9: t. 404 B S Williams 1891 as C maxima var marchettiana; drawing fide;
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 3: 534 Schweinfurth 1960;
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 drawing/photo fide;
Orchids from The Coast Of Ecuador Arosemana, Jurado, Estrada and Konanz 1988 photo fide;
Orchids from The Coast Of Ecuador Arosemana, Jurado, Estrada and Konanz 1988 as C maxima var alba 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 10 2000 as C maxima var alba 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 72 No 1 2003 as C maxima var alba 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;
Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 as C maxima var alba photo fide; Orchidee (Hamburg) 61: 45 roeth 2010 as C maxima f aphlebia;
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;
Orchidee (Hamburg) 65: 229 L Becker 2014 as C maxima f alba;
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;
Orchid Digest Vol 79 #4 2015 as C maxima var alba 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 85 #12 2016 as C maxima var alba 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 #8 2017 as C maxima var virginalis 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 88 #7 2019 as C maxima var alba photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 89 #2 2020 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 89 #11 2020 photo fide; Materials to the Orchid Flora of Colombia Vol IV: 475 Szlatchetko & Kolanowska 2023 drawing/photo fide
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