This species is from the rarest group of the whole genus. The subgenus Portentosa comprises of about 5-7 species. Two of them are presently not known to be in any living collections, therefor can not be studied except for very few existing photographs and pickled flowers. G. portentosa is from the Andean's of Colombia, Peru and Ecuador at altitudes of about 1500-1800 metres. It is a very scarce plant in nature as well as in cultivation. Pictured here is a quite rare coloured form with deep maroon sepals