Phalaenopsis amabilis (moth orchid)

Phalaenopsis amabilis can be found from the Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea into Australia (Queensland).

There are usually 3–5 broad dark green leaves, which are thick and leathery, measuring up to 50 cm long and 10 cm wide, and set in opposite rows. Thick fleshy roots arise from the basal (lower) part of the often pendulous stem. Flowering stems grow from the base of the leaves and are branched, up to 1 m long, with many white flowers, each lasting several weeks or until pollinated. The dorsal sepal is elliptic and blunt, whereas lateral sepals are ovate and pointed. Petals are rounded, narrow at the base, and up to 4.5 cm long. The lip has three lobes. The side lobes are rounded like the petals and the basal lobe is cross-shaped with two long whip-like tails or tendrils curling up from the tip.

A hand-coloured lithograph by W.H. Fitch as Phalaenopsis grandiflora taken from Curtis’s Botanical Magazine (1860).

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine (Editor: Martyn Rix) provides an international forum of particular interest to botanists and horticulturists, plant ecologists and those with a special interest in botanical illustration.

Now well over two hundred years old, the Magazine is the longest running botanical periodical featuring colour illustrations of plants. Each four-part volume contains 24 plant portraits reproduced from watercolour originals by leading international botanical artists. Detailed but accessible articles combine horticultural and botanical information, history, conservation and economic uses of plants described.

Published for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
See the Wiley-Blackwell Subscription Information page for rates (for both print and online).

During the 250 years or more that this orchid has been in cultivation, it has undergone several name changes and was not called Phalaenopsis amabilis until the 19th century.

It was originally described (as Angraecum albus majus) from the island of Amboina in Indonesia by the German-Dutch botanist Georg Eberhard Rumphius in 1750. A herbarium specimen, collected in Java by the Swedish explorer Pehr Osbeck in 1752, was renamed Epidendrum amabile by Linnaeus in 1753, and the species was finally transferred to the new genus Phalaenopsis by the botanist Carl Ludwig Blume in 1825.

Although Phalaenopsis amabilis has yet to be evaluated according to recent IUCN Red List criteria, one of its subspecies, P. amabilis subsp. rosenstromii is classified Endangered in Queensland and is listed as such by the Queensland Government in the Nature Conservation (Wildlife) Regulation 2006. This subspecies occurs in several National Parks within the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site but is potentially threatened by illegal collecting.

All orchids are listed on Appendix I or II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which makes it an offence to trade this species between countries without a permit.

Phalaenopsis amabilis is cultivated as an ornamental and has been used by breeders to produce many hybrids and cultivars. It is officially recognised as one the national flowers of Indonesia.

A moth orchid can be seen in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.

Pressed and dried, and alcohol-preserved specimens of Phalaenopsis amabilis are held in Kew’s Herbarium, where they are available to researchers from around the world, by appointment. The details of some of these, including images, can be seen online in the Herbarium Catalogue.

The botanical artist Marianne North depicted Phalaenopsis amabilis in her painting Malayan Moth Orchid and an American Climber (see image, left), which can be seen in the Marianne North Gallery.

Phalaenopsis amabilis painting by John Day (Image: RBG Kew)

John Day (1824-1888) was an English orchid grower who also painted hundreds of exquisite watercolours of the newly discovered orchids that were introduced to Victorian society. These watercolours were presented to Kew after his death and are now in the Kew archives. A selection of paintings, including one of Phalaenopsis amabilis, was published in A Very Victorian Passion: The Orchid Paintings of John Day 1863-1888.

Search Kew's databases for more information on this species

Find out more about orchids

Orchid Research Newsletter

Orchid conservation at Kew

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine (Wiley-Blackwell)