Govenia superba

By Eduardo Villegas

June 17, 2025

This month we would like to introduce a beautiful orchid: Govenia superba, a species of terrestrial habit native to Mexico that goes by the names of yellow lily and cozticzacatzacuxochitl.

This orchid prefers a cool to cold climate. Its pseudobulbs are globose and are basally enveloped by thin, red, scarious leaves. It f lowers in spring or fall. Its yellow, showy and aromatic flowers are grouped in a terminal inflorescence, about one meter high. It is distributed from central Mexico to Ecuador, mainly on shady slopes at elevations above 2000 m, in oak and pine forests of mountainous and humid regions.

This rare native orchid can be found in the mountains surrounding the Vallarta Botanical Garden and its beauty is another reason to protect the habitat it shares with other emblematic species of this region of western Mexico.