and 6.5 inches (16 centimeters) top to bottom. C. bruchmuelleri is generally regarded as the largest species, as even the unopened buds can be 4.6 inches (11.7 centimeters long by 3 inches (8 cm) in width. The bee, having stored the aromatic oils in his back legs, can then fly off to mate with a female bee. History Some of the first investigations on Coryanthes were published by Cruger in 1865. Charles Darwin describes his observations and experiments on some species of Coryanthes in his book The Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilized by Insects. However, Darwin thought it was the female bees that were doing the fertilizing, and it was almost 100 years before the role of the male euglossine bees were revealed in 1961. Intergeneric hybrids Coryhopea (Coryanthes × Stanhopea) Gallery References External links (1831) Botanical Magazine 58: t. 3102. (2009) Epidendroideae (Part two). Genera Orchidacearum 5: 407 ff. Oxford University Press. Photo collections of Coryanthes from Botanical Garden Munich Stanhopeinae genera