Cattleya maxima which has dark purple veins and a yellow area in the middle. Dorsal sepal narrowly elliptic; lateral sepals elliptic lanceolate; petals elliptic with wavy margin; lip folded forming a tube, with the front margin curly and wavy. Column slender and arched. "Cattleya maxima" occurs as an epiphyte on trees in dry forests from 100 to 1800 m of elevation, from Venezuela to northern Peru. The upland variety can be found growing on rocky slopes. 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.
Flowering plant in the range of 250,000 to 400,000. This compares to around 12,000 species of moss or 11,000 species of pteridophytes, showing that the flowering plants are much more diverse. The number of families in APG (1998) was 462. In APG II (2003) it is not settled; at maximum it is 457, but within this number there are 55 optional segregates, so that the minimum number of families in this system is 402. In APG III (2009) there are 415 families. The diversity of flowering plants is not evenly distributed. Nearly all species belong to the eudicot (75%), monocot (23%), and