Species library › Maxillaria › Maxillaria cleistogama
Orchids Partly documented

Maxillaria cleistogama

A small epiphytic Maxillaria named for its self-pollinating flowers that often stay closed. Most records come from the Atlantic Forest of southeastern and southern Brazil, with outliers in Amazonia; it grows well with intermediate temperatures, bright shade and a slightly cooler winter.

Maxillaria cleistogama
Photo: Instituto Nacional da Mata Atlântica - INMA, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Humid airBand in Plantistry
Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

Epiphyte in humid Atlantic Forest and, more rarely, Amazonian forest, on trunks and branches in filtered light.

Recorded from sea level to about 1,400 m, median around 400 m.

Brazil SoutheastBrazil SouthBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBoliviaPeruVenezuela

🔒 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

Grow Maxillaria cleistogama? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

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 4.0 licence, unmodified.