Volume 12 > Part 2 > Year 2014 > Page 543 > Orchidaceae > Grammatophyllum

Grammatophyllum speciosum Blumewfo-0000975153

Bijdr.: 378. 1825; Seidenf. & Smitinand, Orchids Thail.: 498. 1961; A. D. Kerr, Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc. 23: 202. 1969; Seidenf., Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. (Paris), sér. 3, 71, Bot. 5: 130. 1973; Opera Bot. 72: 96, fig. 54. 1984. Fig. 296.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : A large epiphytic or rarely terrestrial herb, often forming a large clump. Pseudobulbs clustered, erect at first then pendent, stem-like, cylindrical, many-noded, leafy in the apical part, dull yellow, 3–7 m long, ca 5 cm in diameter. Leaves several, arranged in 2 rows, linear, acute, 50–100 by 3 cm, drooping from the base when older. Inflorescences up to 2 m or more long, densely many-flowered, bearing a few well-spaced, distorted, sterile flowers near the base; peduncle stout, cylindrical, up to 1.6 cm in diameter; bracts somewhat reflexed, linear-lanceolate, acute. Flowers almost flat, large, up to 10 cm across; sepals and petals pale or greenish yellow, heavily spotted with maroon-brown, the labellum yellow with red-brown veins on the side lobes and red-brown marks on the mid-lobe; sterile flowers fragrant, with 2 sepals and petals but lacking a labellum and column. Sepals spreading, elliptic-spathulate, obtuse or rounded, 40–55 by 16–20 mm. Petals spreading, elliptic, obtuse, 40–55 by 22–26 mm, with somewhat undulate lateral margins. Labellum 3-lobed, lacking a spur, 25–30 mm long; side lobes erect, curved over the column, obliquely semi-circular-rounded, pubescent on veins; mid-lobe slightly deflexed, ovate, obtuse, 10 mm wide, pubescent on veins; disk ornamented by 3 short ridges. Column 14–20 mm long, with an outgrowth on each side at the base, joined to the base of the labellum to form a saccate hollow. Pedicel and ovary 4–10 cm long, off-white.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Phitsanulok; NORTH-EASTERN: Loei; SOUTH-EASTERN: Chon Buri (Si Racha); PENINSULAR: Chumphon, Surat Thani, Phangnga, Trang, Satun.

Distribution : Myanmar, Indochina, the Malay Archipelago (type from Java), the Philippines, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands.

Ecology : Epiphytic in lowland forests, often near streams; peat swamp forests; wet kerangas forests; coastal forests; hill forests; lower montane forests. Comber (2001) stated that Grammatophyllum speciosum is usually found as an epiphyte in the first fork of large trees in the islands of the Malay Archipelago. He also found it growing as a terrestrial in steep grasslands in Sumatra, sea level to 1,100 m alt. Flowering: July–October.

Vernacular : Kluai ka (กล้วยกา)(Surat Thani); mue tap kae (มือตับแก)(Chumphon); wan ngu lueam (ว่านงูเหลือม)(Peninsular); wan phetchahueng (ว่านเพชรหึง)(Central); wan hang chang (ว่านหางช้าง)(Loei); ueang phrao (เอื้องพร้าว)(Northern).

CommonName : Letter plant, Tiger orchid.

Notes: Grammatophyllum speciosum is visited by large Xylocopa bees (van der Pijl & Dodson, 1966). It has some larger sterile but fragrant flowers on the lower part of the inflorescence with fused lateral sepals and lacking a labellum. These probably attract pollinators to the inflorescence. Dry weather seems to trigger mass flowering in this species.