''Grammatophyllum speciosum'', also called giant orchid, tiger orchid, sugar cane orchid or queen of the orchids, is a species of
orchid
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...
native to Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi) and Malaysia. It has also been recorded in the Philippines, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. It is listed by the
Guinness Book of World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
as the world's tallest orchid, with specimens recorded up to in height.
Description
![Potted Grammatophyllum Speciosum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Potted_Grammatophyllum_Speciosum.jpg)
It is an
epiphytic
An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...
and occasionally a
lithophytic
Lithophytes are plants that grow in or on rocks. They can be classified as either epilithic (or epipetric) or endolithic; epilithic lithophytes grow on the surfaces of rocks, while endolithic lithophytes grow in the crevices of rocks (and are als ...
plant, forming spectacular
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...
bundles. Its cylindric
pseudobulb
The pseudobulb is a storage organ found in many epiphytic and terrestrial sympodial orchids. It is derived from a thickening of the part of a stem between leaf nodes and may be composed of just one internode or several, termed heteroblastic and ...
s can grow to a length of 2.5 m. It can grow to gigantic clusters weighing from several hundred kilograms to more than one ton. One collected in 1893 by Frederick K. Sander & Co. near Penang Island in Malaysia weighed a long ton (=a metric ton). Half was sent to the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago and the other half to the Singapore Botanic Garden. By 1902, the
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
specimen had grown to be 47 feet (14.4 meters) in girth by ten feet (three meters) high and bore simultaneously 2090 five-inch-wide flowers plus 1110 unopened buds. Much more recently, in A.D. 2000, biologists Tim Laman and Phil Atkinson found one in Borneo 25 feet (7.7 meters) wide and bearing between 2500 and 5000 flowers. The plant completely encircled the host tree 150 feet (46 meters) above ground. The oldest individual orchid plant is also a G. speciosum. Planted in the Singapore Botanic Garden in 1861 by Garden Director Lawrence Niven and his staff, it was 154 years old in 2015. and so would now (2022) be 161 years of age. The plant is also five meters (16.5 feet) in width.
Each
raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...
can grow to a height of 3m, bearing up to eighty
flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s, each 10 cm wide. The flowers are yellow colored with maroon or dark red spots. These flowers are remarkable, since the lowest flowers have no
lip
The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...
and these flowers function as
osmophores for the entire inflorescence and continue to emit chemical scent to attract pollinators as flowers open in succession. It blooms only once every two to four years. This orchid can, however, remain in bloom for up to two months. Each individual flower can remain fresh for as long as six weeks. In addition, this plant has been found to have potential medicinal benefits; for example one research article by Harikarnpakdee and Chowjarean found it specifically aided in wound healing in humans.
Common names
![Grammatophyllum speciosum - Paxton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Grammatophyllum_speciosum_-_Paxton.jpg)
*
Giant orchid Giant orchid is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
*'' Grammatophyllum speciosum'', native from New Guinea to the Philippines and one of the world's largest orchids
*''Orthochilus ecristatus
''Orthochilus ecristatus'', or giant o ...
, not to be confused with ''
Orthochilus ecristatus'' (Fernald) Rolfe or ''
Barlia robertiana'', both of which are also commonly called the giant orchid.
*
Tiger orchid Tiger orchid is a common name for several orchids and may refer to:
*'' Diuris sulphurea'', native to eastern Australia
*''Elleanthus'', native to the neotropics
*''Grammatophyllum speciosum'', the world's largest orchid, native to southeast Asia
* ...
, not to be confused with ''
Rossioglossum grande
''Rossioglossum'' is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It has 9 currently recognized species (as of May 2014), all native to Mexico, Central America, and northern and western South America.
#'' Rossioglossum amplia ...
'' or ''
Maxillaria
''Maxillaria'', abbreviated as Max in the horticultural trade, is a large genus of orchids (family Orchidaceae). This is a diverse genus, with very different morphological forms. Their characteristics can vary widely.
They are commonly called s ...
'' species, both are also called tiger orchid.
*Queen of the orchids, not to be confused with ''
Cattleya
''Cattleya'' () is a genus of orchids from Costa Rica south to Argentina. The genus is abbreviated C in trade journals.
Description
Epiphytic or terrestrial orchids with cylindrical rhizome from which the fleshy noodle-like roots grow. Ps ...
'' species
*Sugar cane orchid, for its resemblance to a sugarcane plant of the genus ''
Saccharum
''Saccharum'' is a genus of tall perennial plants of the broomsedge tribe within the grass family.
The genus is widespread across tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions in Africa, Eurasia, Australia, the Americas, and assorted oceani ...
''
Distribution and habitat
It is native to
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
,
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
and
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, growing in crotches of large trees on exposed areas of the lowland tropical
rainforest
Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...
.
Ecology
A giant orchid weighing two tons was one of the highlights in the 1851 exhibition at
the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibit ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
Because of its enormous size, it is rarely cultivated as this species is usually too large to be accommodated in most greenhouses. Cultivated specimens of this species are always grown as terrestrials, as the plants grow as both an epiphyte and terrestrial in habitat.
[Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids ]
References
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3006235
speciosum
Flora of Indo-China
Flora of Malesia
Epiphytic orchids