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Species library › Paphiopedilum › Paphiopedilum sanderianum
Orchids Well documented

Paphiopedilum sanderianum

A multi-flowered slipper orchid known for its twisted, hanging petals, which can reach about a metre long. It is found only in the Gunung Mulu area of Sarawak, Borneo, where it grows on steep limestone at 100–500 m. It was lost to cultivation and thought extinct in the wild until it was rediscovered in 1978. It needs warm, humid, year-round wet conditions, a calcareous medium and enough height for the petals to hang free.

Paphiopedilum sanderianum
Photo: Naoki Takebayashi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Humid airBand in Plantistry
Light ShadeDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows on rock (lithophyte)

Where it grows wild

It grows on steep dolomitic limestone pinnacles and cliffs, rooting into mosses and leaf litter caught on the rock. The substrate is calcareous, with a pH of about 7.3–7.5. Plants are in moderately deep shade under forest cover, and water drains away almost at once.

It grows at 100–500 m. The two GBIF records used here, both in the Mulu area, carry no elevation.

Borneo (Sarawak)

🔒 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 4.0 licence, unmodified.