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Maxillaria splendens; photograph (c) John G. Phillips, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) John G. Phillips, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2025-11-08

Maxillaria splendens Poepp. & Endl.

Orchidaceae · French Guiana, Surinam +6 · listed by its genus as an orchid

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Maxillaria splendens, photograph (c) Frank Dietze, some rights reserved (CC BY)Maxillaria splendens, photograph (c) Frank Dietze, some rights reserved (CC BY)Maxillaria splendens, photograph (c) Frank Dietze, some rights reserved (CC BY)Maxillaria splendens, photograph (c) John G. Phillips, some rights reserved (CC BY)Maxillaria splendens, photograph (c) John G. Phillips, some rights reserved (CC BY)Maxillaria splendens, photograph (c) John G. Phillips, some rights reserved (CC BY) 20 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
19.5°C
Jul at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Sep, Oct and Nov at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,150mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
26–36DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Cultivation

Grouped as an orchid, listed under the genus Maxillaria in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “pseudobulbous epiphyte or lithophyte”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,471 mm of 3,307 mm) takes 8 months, January to July and November. Mean temperature moves 1.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

3,307 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,471 mm of it January to July and November. Wettest month May at 415 mm, driest month September at 177 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,174 mm to 4,962 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,150 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,307 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 19.5 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 14.1 °C to 21.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.9 °C in October (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 19.5 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, July, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 64 to 71% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Maxillaria in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “pseudobulbous epiphyte or lithophyte”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Maxillaria splendens through the yearWarmest months September, October and November, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 19.5 °C; 3,307 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 26–36RH 64–71%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 36 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 22–2927 / 22–2927 / 22–3027 / 22–2927 / 21–2926 / 21–2926 / 20–2927 / 21–3028 / 22–3228 / 22–3228 / 23–3127 / 22–29
Night °C20 / 16–2220 / 16–2221 / 16–2221 / 16–2321 / 15–2220 / 15–2220 / 14–2220 / 14–2220 / 15–2220 / 15–2321 / 15–2321 / 16–22
Rain mm282 / 148–398266 / 178–381306 / 181–399365 / 217–502415 / 177–484319 / 151–514269 / 119–413188 / 90–333177 / 53–359231 / 69–403249 / 87–422240 / 146–465
DLI30 / 24–3330 / 26–3330 / 27–3329 / 25–3127 / 24–2926 / 22–2728 / 24–3133 / 29–3636 / 31–3936 / 31–3933 / 30–3630 / 27–33
RH %68 / 63–7467 / 63–7468 / 64–7369 / 65–7571 / 66–7571 / 67–7569 / 65–7466 / 63–7364 / 61–7265 / 61–7166 / 64–7268 / 64–72

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, -1948 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum 15.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 18.7 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 36 grid cells holding the 39 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1819:2043 (-0.975, -77.825). Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 36 distinct grid cells holding 39 of the 39 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1819:2043 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -1.00_-78.125, lapse-corrected -1948 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 547 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeFrench Guiana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil North · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-1.57, -77.917 · in the densest population, 42 records (47% of those in range)
Kew's description“pseudobulbous epiphyte or lithophyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 89 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 39 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 65 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 19 km away. 5 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 50 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 89 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Maxillaria splendens, photograph 1did not loadMaxillaria splendens, photograph 2did not loadMaxillaria splendens, photograph 3did not loadMaxillaria splendens, photograph 4did not loadMaxillaria splendens, photograph 5did not loadMaxillaria splendens, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Frank Dietze, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) John G. Phillips, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Calliandra angustifolia Calliandra angustifolia Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Jared ShormaUrera laciniata Urera laciniata Urticaceae Photo: CC BY, Eric SchmidtBrunfelsia grandiflora Brunfelsia grandiflora Largeflower brunfelsia Photo: CC BY, Eduardo Chacón MadrigalPearcea hypocyrtiflora Pearcea hypocyrtiflora Gesneriaceae Photo: CC BY, Benjamin HidalgoPangium edule Pangium edule Football Fruit Photo: CC0, author not statedFicus subulata Ficus subulata Moraceae Photo: CC BY, portioid

Other Maxillaria 93 in the reference

Maxillaria acuminata Maxillaria acuminata Orchidaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedMaxillaria acutifolia Maxillaria acutifolia Rufous tiger orchid Photo: CC BY, Samuel Peláez VélezMaxillaria adendrobium Maxillaria adendrobium Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, J. L. Gómez-HechavarríaMaxillaria aggregata Maxillaria aggregata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Thibaud AronsonMaxillaria alba Maxillaria alba Orchidaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedMaxillaria aurea Maxillaria aurea Orchidaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedMaxillaria bradei Maxillaria bradei Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Diego F. Cisneros-HerediaMaxillaria brasiliensis Maxillaria brasiliensis Orchidaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedMaxillaria chrysantha Maxillaria chrysantha Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, bruno_san1409Maxillaria coccinea Maxillaria coccinea Scarlet Flame Orchid Photo: CC BY, Matteo Bellucci Maxillaria costaricensis Orchidaceae Maxillaria crassifolia Maxillaria crassifolia Hidden orchid Photo: CC BY, keesgroenendijk all 94 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Maxillaria histiologorum; Maxillaria histiolugorum. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Orchidaceae
Described by
Poepp. & Endl.
Native to
French Guiana, Surinam, Venezuela +5
Wild records
89 in range · 65 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -1.00_-78.125, lapse-corrected -1948 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, -1948 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 21 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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