Rolfe is a species of South East Asian jewel orchid mostly recorded from New Guinea but is also found in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

[1] This species has a long history of cultivation in Europe since the early 20th century and is prized for its ornamental leaves which are the largest in its genus.

This species survives at a broad range of altitudes from close to sea-level, up to the lower boundary of the cloud forest.

M. sanderiana has not been assessed for the IUCN red list, however, as recently as the 1980’s this species was common in parts of its range within New Guinea.

M. sanderiana has the largest leaves of its genus, they are fleshy and often exceed sixteen centimeters in length and eight in width.

The adaxial (upper) leaf surface is the defining feature of this species, it is covered in a complex network of veins.

Leaf color is known to be variable in Macodes, this is thought to be linked to the plants' growing conditions especially light intensity.

The peduncle (inflorescence stem) is thirty centimeters high and characterized as a scape due to it being composed of one elongated node.

Unlike most orchids the flowers are non-resupinate which means that they do not twist 180 degrees during development, consequently the labellum faces upwards and the dorsal sepal downwards.

Like most of the plants' surface, the floral parts exposed during development are covered with short dense glandular trichomes.

Lateral sepals are 0.6 cm long, ovate to oblong shaped, clearly concave and spreading when fully open.

[6] The defining features of Macodes sanderiana are its large leaves (in comparison to other jewel orchids), its wide pale-green streak overlying its midrib vein and its crenated leaf margins.

Sander's orchids are often found growing within moss layers on the forest floor and are known to co-occur with the pacific lychee tree Pometia pinnata.

[3] In 1895 Macodes sanderiana was recorded in ‘The Gardeners Chronicle’ under the name Anoetochilus sanderianus after being introduced to England by Conrad Sander.

This phylogeny placed Macodes sanderiana in a clade with the monotypic jewel orchid Dossinia marmorata C.Morren.

Other research places Macodes sanderiana in different positions in the phylogeny and there is not yet consensus on its closest relatives.

[12] Macodes species including Sander's orchid are cultivated for their attractive prominently-veined leaves more so than for their flowers.

[13] These species prefer warm conditions and high humidity and can survive in lower light than most other orchids.

[15] As little data is available on the distribution of Sander’s orchid with only eighteen georeferenced records available on GBIF (just five of which are post 1980), this would make any red listing assessment speculative.