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 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