Paphiopedilum villosum

A large, glossy slipper orchid from the monsoon hills of southern China, northeast India and mainland Southeast Asia, unusual among paphiopedilums for growing mostly as an epiphyte on trunks and branches or on sunny cliffs and rock crevices. It comes from 1100–2000 m, where summers are warm and very wet and winters are cool and fairly dry, and it flowers in the cool season. Grow it brighter and cooler than a mottled-leaf paph, with free-draining bark and a clear winter drop in night temperature.

At home, aim for

Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry

Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry

Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry

Light Bright, filtered lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry

Expects a seasonal restGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

Flora of China describes it as epiphytic or sometimes lithophytic, on tree trunks or branches in open forest, on sunny cliffs, in rock crevices and on rocky ground. Specimen notes also record it on vertical roadside banks facing the sun in subtropical evergreen hill forest and on fallen trunks. Roots sit in moss and humus pockets that drain almost instantly.

Flora of China gives 1100–1800 m, occasionally to 2000 m. GBIF specimens with elevations run from about 500 to 2550 m, median about 1500 m.

Assam and northeast IndiaBangladeshMyanmar (Kachin, Kayah, Shan, upper Sagaing)China: Yunnan and neighbouring south-central and southeast ChinaThailandLaosCambodiaVietnam

🔒 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.