I saw this plant in the orchid house of the Botanical Garden
of Quito, Ecuador. Although this orchid
was not identified with a tag, the flowers resemble the flowers of Maxillaria sanderiana that are in my
books. Max. sanderiana is native of Ecuador and Peru, where it is
epiphytic or lithophytic on stony slopes.¹ The
flowers of this species are variable in the extent of purple around the base of
the floral segments, and the size of the lip.²
This orchid was in a raised bed composed of coarse gravel, if there was
a pot buried in the gravel it was impossible to say.
¹La Croix, I. F. 2008. The new encyclopedia of orchids: 1500
species in cultivation
²Zelenko, H., Bermudez, P.
2009. Orchid species of Peru
