Angraecum sesquipedale

Darwin's orchid, also called the Christmas or comet orchid, from Madagascar's eastern coast. It has large, waxy, ivory star-shaped flowers with a spur up to 30 cm long. It is a big, warm-growing epiphyte that needs strong light and steady humidity, and it resents root disturbance.

At home, aim for

Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry

Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry

Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry

Light Bright, filtered lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry

No rest periodGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

It grows as an epiphyte, sometimes on rocks, in lowland coastal forest. It favors the brighter, drier parts of trunks and branches on less leafy trees, where light and air movement are high.

Records run from sea level to about 1,100 m, with a median of 58 m. It is mainly a lowland plant below roughly 150 m, so the 1,092 m site is an outlier.

Madagascar

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates

✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it

✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light

✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it

✓ Substrate and airflow

✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.