Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Sobralia macrophylla; photograph (c) Emily Turteltaub Nelson, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Emily Turteltaub Nelson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-01-25

Sobralia macrophylla Rchb.f.

Orchidaceae · Costa Rica, Nicaragua +11 · listed by its genus as an orchid

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Sobralia macrophylla, photograph (c) Emily Turteltaub Nelson, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sobralia macrophylla, photograph (c) Yu, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Sobralia macrophylla, photograph (c) Yu, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Sobralia macrophylla, photograph (c) Guillaume Delaitre, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sobralia macrophylla, photograph (c) Guillaume Delaitre, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sobralia macrophylla, photograph (c) Skjold Søndergaard, some rights reserved (CC BY) 16 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
19.8°C
Record low 17.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Feb, Mar, Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,734mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–32DLI
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.

Summary

Sobralia macrophylla, commonly known as the large-leafed sobralia, is a species of orchid found from Central America to tropical South America.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sobralia macrophylla", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

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

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (3,032 mm of 3,962 mm) takes 8 months, April to November. Mean temperature moves 0.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern 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

3,962 mm in the median year at the habitat, 3,032 mm of it April to November. Wettest month October at 438 mm, driest month January at 211 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,684 mm to 5,554 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,734 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 3,962 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 32 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 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 19.8 °C, the absolute minimum 17.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 21.4 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 15.2 °C to 24.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.1 °C in March and April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 68 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. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -30 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. 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 Sobralia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “perennial or epiphyte”. 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, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Sobralia macrophylla through the yearWarmest months February, March, April and May, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 21.4 °C; 3,962 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°36.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER17.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 25–32RH 68–71%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 72 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 22–3028 / 23–3028 / 24–3028 / 24–3028 / 23–2927 / 22–2927 / 22–2927 / 22–3027 / 22–3127 / 22–3127 / 22–3027 / 22–29
Night °C22 / 15–2422 / 15–2522 / 15–2522 / 16–2522 / 16–2522 / 16–2421 / 15–2422 / 15–2422 / 15–2422 / 16–2422 / 16–2422 / 15–24
Rain mm211 / 62–385220 / 34–365271 / 45–433361 / 129–511413 / 303–617378 / 182–552342 / 159–513355 / 126–578371 / 107–604438 / 106–691374 / 127–569228 / 162–487
DLI30 / 23–3432 / 25–3732 / 26–4029 / 24–3726 / 22–3126 / 21–3226 / 21–3528 / 21–3728 / 22–3926 / 21–3625 / 20–3329 / 21–32
RH %68 / 62–7568 / 62–7368 / 61–7269 / 63–7571 / 65–7570 / 65–7670 / 63–7669 / 61–7671 / 61–7671 / 64–7771 / 65–7769 / 64–76
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 72 grid cells holding the 80 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 1720:2554 (3.975, -52.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 17.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.8 °C. 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 72 distinct grid cells holding 80 of the 80 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1720:2554 (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 4.00_-52.500, lapse-corrected -30 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 82 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.
NativeCosta Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil Northeast, 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 marker5.806, -76.18 · in the densest population, 93 records (58% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial or epiphyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 159 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 80 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 96 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 126 km away. 79 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 159 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Sobralia macrophylla, photograph 1did not loadSobralia macrophylla, photograph 2did not loadSobralia macrophylla, photograph 3did not loadSobralia macrophylla, photograph 4did not loadSobralia macrophylla, photograph 5did not loadSobralia macrophylla, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Emily Turteltaub Nelson, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Yu, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Guillaume Delaitre, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Skjold Søndergaard, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Anthurium obtusum Anthurium obtusum Araceae Photo: CC BY-SA, YuPentagonia macrophylla Pentagonia macrophylla Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, AitorApeiba membranacea Apeiba membranacea Monkey's comb Photo: CC BY, reagan peschkeCyclanthus bipartitus Cyclanthus bipartitus Split-leaf cyclanthus Photo: CC BY, keesgroenendijkBrosimum utile Brosimum utile Cow Tree Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitrePeperomia pernambucensis Peperomia pernambucensis Piperaceae Photo: CC BY, Anders Hastings

Other Sobralia 22 in the reference

Sobralia abel-arayae Orchidaceae Sobralia amabilis Sobralia amabilis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Lauren L.Sobralia atropubescens Sobralia atropubescens Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Frank DietzeSobralia chrysostoma Sobralia chrysostoma Golden-Lipped Sobralia Photo: CC BY, Sean KriegSobralia crocea Sobralia crocea Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Josh NoseworthySobralia decora Sobralia decora Decorative Sobralia Photo: CC BY, Ian AdamsSobralia dichotoma Sobralia dichotoma Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, MarinaSobralia ecuadorana Sobralia ecuadorana Ecuadorian Sobralia Photo: CC0, author not statedSobralia fragrans Sobralia fragrans Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, keesgroenendijkSobralia macrantha Sobralia macrantha Large-flowered sobralia Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresSobralia mutisii Sobralia mutisii Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ Sobralia portillae Orchidaceae all 23 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Cattleya chlorantha; Cyathoglottis macrantha; Sobralia aurantiaca; Sobralia chlorantha; Sobralia rolfeana. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Orchidaceae
Described by
Rchb.f.
Native to
Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama +10
Wild records
159 in range · 96 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 4.00_-52.500, lapse-corrected -30 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 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 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 38 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…