Cattleya maxima

Native to southern Ecuador and Peru, this perennial epiphytic orchid grows on trees in seasonally dry tropical forests. Swollen stems called pseudobulbs store water. Its lavender flowers have relatively narrow petals and sepals, with a frilled lip marked by purple veins and a yellow central stripe. Lowland plants are taller and can produce clusters of 12 to 25 flowers; upland plants are smaller, with fewer, darker flowers. It was a parent of the first registered Cattleya hybrid, Dominiana, crossed with Cattleya intermedia. Photographed in Panama.