Cattleya maxima Cattleya maxima Cattleya maxima is a species of orchid in subfamily Epidendroideae found from Venezuela to Peru. Epiphytic herb with club-shaped pseudobulbs, up to 39 cm. or taller with one leaf at the top (total height of pseudobulb and leaf about 61 cm). Leaf oblong or broadly oblong, rounded at apex, light green, up to 35 cm. long and up to 6 cm. wide, thick and fleshy. Inflorescence stem up to 30 cm long, with 3-6 (upland variety) or 12-15 (lowland variety) flowers. Flowers 12–15 cm wide, with lilac or pale rose sepals and petals, except the lip or labellum,
Flowering plant in exceptional cases. The characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower. Flowers show remarkable variation in form and elaboration, and provide the most trustworthy external characteristics for establishing relationships among angiosperm species. The function of the flower is to ensure fertilization of the ovule and development of fruit containing seeds. The floral apparatus may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf (where the petiole attaches to the stem). Occasionally, as in violets, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf. More typically, the flower-bearing portion of the plant is sharply distinguished from