Grammatophyllum speciosum Blume
Description: Commonly known as tiger orchid, Currently considered the world's largest orchid, rare in cultivation due to its enormous size, plants can weigh up to 2 tons. and can bear up to 7000 flowers A large to giant sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte and occasional lithophyte occuring in lowland forests near streams and rivers at elevations of 100 to 1200 meters in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia ,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, 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. Plants typically only bloom every 2-4 years but can flower over a 2 month period when in bloom. The flowers are probably pollinated by the giant bee, Apis dorsata
Photorights: Cedric Jancloes
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