Orchid---the best fragrance in the world

Scientific name: Cymbidium spp.

English name: Cymbidium

Also known as: Orchid Grass

Family name: Orchidaceae

Morphological characteristics: perennial herb. The roots are fleshy and hypertrophic, without root hairs, and have bacterial growth. It has pseudobulbs, and the reed heads are covered with leaf sheaths. Often multiple pseudobulbs are connected together and exist in rows at the same time. The leaves are linear or sword-shaped, leathery, upright or drooping, the flowers are solitary or in racemes, and there are many bracts on the pedicels. The flowers are bisexual and fragrant. The corolla consists of 3 sepals, 3 petals and stamens. The middle one of the sepals is called the main valve. The lower two are the secondary lobes, and the extension of the secondary lobes is known. The upper two petals are upright, fleshy and thick, with the apex curled inward, commonly known as holding. The lower one is the labium, which is larger and is commonly known as Lansun. It is brown when mature and the seeds are fine and powdery.

Chunlan and Cymbidium are divided into plum petals, narcissus petals, lotus petals, butterfly petals, odd species and plain hearts according to the different changes in the shape and texture of their main petals, secondary petals, cup and lips. . The plum petals have short and round sepals, thick flesh, slightly curved inward, and a narrow base. The petals are fleshy and fleshy, and the tips are curved inwards into pockets. The lips are short and hard, and they are slightly upward when the flowers first bloom. The famous species include Song Mei and Xishen. Plum and other varieties. The sepals of Narcissus petals are slightly longer than the plum petals, and the apex is tapered. The holding petals are thick in texture, the apex is also pocketed, and the labial petals are slightly drooping or recurved. The famous species include Wangzi, Cuiyipin, etc. The tea petals have wide sepals, thick texture, narrow base, wide and pointed apex, and the petals are not pocket-shaped. The lips are moist and slightly recurved. Famous species include Dafugui, Cuigaihua, etc. Butterfly petals are the inner sides of the two sepals pointing downward. The texture becomes thicker, wavy and crepey, and has red spots. Sometimes the number of entire sepals or petals suddenly increases (like green clouds, the corolla is often about 8), or the shape of a flower. There are special changes. The plain heart is the same color as the perianth, flower stems and bracts, pure green, yellow-green, etc., no variegated green, yellow-green, etc., no variegated markings, rare varieties include Zhang Hesu, Laowentuan Su, etc.

Orchid likes shade, avoids direct sunlight, likes moisture, avoids dryness, and likes fertile, humus-rich, well-drained, slightly acidic sandy loam, and an environment with good air circulation.

There are more than 750 genera and more than 35,000 species in the Orchidaceae family, and there are more than 70 species in the genus Orchid. Commonly cultivated species in my country include:

Chunlan (C.goeringii): also known as grass orchid, mountain orchid, and Duoduoxiang. 1-2 flowers per stem, fragrant. The flowering period is from February to March. Mainly distributed in the Yangtze River Basin and southwest China. Traditional and valuable varieties include Song Mei, Longzi, etc. The variant C.georingii var.serratum has thin leaves, dark green flowers, and no or light fragrance.

Cymbidium (C.faberi): also known as Jiuzilan and Xialan. There are many flowers on one stem, often 6-12, fragrant. The flowering period is from March to May. The distribution area is similar to Chunlan. Traditional famous varieties include Shanghai plum, Jiepeimei, Jin'aosu, etc.

Variants include C. faberi var. szechuanicum, commonly known as C. faberi var. szechuanicum. The leaves are often arranged in two rows and the flowering period is from July to September. It is mainly distributed in Fujian, Guangdong and other places. Variants include C.ensifolium var.susin, including the valuable Golden Horsetail, Yushen Dagong, Longyansu, Dafenweisu, Guanyinsu, Changtingsu, etc.

Introduction to Orchid Types

Orchids are precious ornamental plants. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 700 genera and more than 20,000 species in the world, and many new varieties are discovered and cultivated every year.

Orchids are mainly divided into three categories according to their ecological habits: terrestrial orchids, aerial orchids, and saprophytic orchids. Since most varieties of orchid originate from China, the orchid is also called Chinese orchid and is listed as the top ten famous flowers in China. Chinese orchids mainly fall into five categories: spring orchid, cymbidium, jianlan, cold orchid, and black orchid, with thousands of horticultural varieties.

Chunlan: Chunlan is also known as grass orchid and mountain orchid. Chunlan is widely distributed and rich in resources. The flowering period is from February to March of the year and can last for about one month. The floral scent is rich and pure. The rare varieties include lotus, plum, narcissus, butterfly and other petal shapes in various colors.

In terms of petal shape, famous products from Jiangsu and Zhejiang are the most typical.

Cymbidium: Cymbidium has thick and long roots, narrow and band-shaped leaves, rough, hard, pale green, with obvious serrated edges and prominent midrib. The flowers have a long-lasting fragrance and are yellow in color. White, green, light red and complex colors, mostly colorful flowers, there are also plain flowers and butterfly flowers.

Jianlan: also called four-season orchid, including summer orchid, autumn orchid, etc. The four-season orchid is strong and tall, has green leaves and abundant flowers, and is fragrant and beautiful. It is not afraid of heat or cold, has strong vitality and is easy to cultivate. Different varieties have different flowering periods, and flowers can be seen from May to December.

Hanlan: Hanlan is distributed in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong and Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places in the southwest. The leaves of the cold orchid are slender than those of the four-season orchid, especially the leaf base is thinner. The leaves are elegant and elegant, green and delicate, and there are large, medium, thin leaves and bordered varieties. The flowers are rich in color, including yellow, green, purple-red, deep purple and other colors. They usually have variegated veins and spots, but there are also pure and flawless plain flowers. The sepals and petals are narrow and thin, unique in style, delicate and lovely, and have a pleasant fragrance. Molan:

Molan, also known as Baosuilan, Baosuilan, Fengsuilan, etc., is native to Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Yunnan, Taiwan, Hainan, etc. in my country. Orchids in southern my country, especially in Guangdong and Yunnan, like to cultivate and watch orchids. Chunjian: Chunjian is often called the authentic Sichuan orchid. Although there are famous brands in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, Sichuan orchid is the most valuable. The flower colors include red, yellow, white, green, purple, black and multiple colors. They are bright and dazzling, with a graceful appearance, elegant charm, strong fragrance and pure taste. They are often the first choice of orchid growers.

Variety identification requires "three looks"

Variety identification is the identification of the comprehensive quality of orchids, and it is the knowledge that best demonstrates the skill of orchids. Therefore, everyone at Yilan in the past dynasties has been extremely cautious about this, never jumping to conclusions, and always adhering to the "three looks" principle. One look at the leaf shape says, "You can admire the flowers for a while, but you can enjoy the leaves all year round."

In the flowerless season, people mainly identify famous orchids based on leaf shape, including leaf buds, plant shape, etc. The color of orchid buds when they are unearthed has a certain reference role in the appreciation of orchid varieties, and careful observation is required during the bud period. Generally speaking. If the new buds are white, white-green, or green, spring orchids are generally plain varieties, and cymbidiums are mostly plain or green; if there are white rice-like "white peaks" at the tip of the buds, fine flowers may appear. Most of the traditional famous orchids are relatively stable, and their leaf shapes also have certain regularity. After long-term practice, orchid artists can generally identify the varieties with obvious leaf shape characteristics by just looking at them, such as upright leaves with "Wang" and "Tai". Su, Laojiepin, Songmei with hanging leaves, Dayipin, Dafugui with fat ring leaves, Green Cloud with twisted leaves, etc. However, due to different growing environments, orchids do not have the same leaves year after year, so orchid artists often combine viewing of leaves with flower buds to identify varieties. Second, look at the buds. The traditional famous orchid not only has its own unique leaf shape, but the buds are also distinctive. Therefore, people must look at both the leaf shape and the flower buds when identifying. Regarding the identification of flower buds, predecessors have summarized the "nine shapes and eight styles" of the orchid huili head shape and the "five gates and eight styles" of the small rows of bells of cymbidium flowers. These valuable experiences are of great benefit to us in identifying varieties and are worthy of our digestion and absorption.

Things develop and change. People have found in the practice of orchid art that even if the same pot of orchid, sometimes the color of the buds is different in different years, or even in the same year. I have experience with this. After many years of observation, the flower buds of the famous orchids I cultivate, such as Dafugui and Yuanzi, sometimes have differences in different years. In some years, the color of the flower buds is darker, and in other years, the color is lighter. According to Mr. Chen Yaoming of Wuxi, the scapes from the Jiyuan he cultivated sometimes were "deep red", and sometimes the scapes were "purple in the green". One year, five of his large pots of Jiyuan grew. Three of the scapes are red, and two are green with purple in them.

It can be seen that identifying varieties simply based on the color and shape of the buds has its limitations, and you must also look at its opening. The most direct and effective way to identify orchid orchid varieties is to look at their opening products. This is also the main reason why introduced varieties need to be introduced after they have bloomed. Generally speaking, as long as the product is properly opened, you can identify the variety by seeing the flowers.

But everything has its own particularity. The flowers of the same variety of orchids often bloom due to different planting methods. For example, Song Mei can bloom in four or five types of flower shapes, and Luyun and Xishen can also bloom in several types. Different flower shapes, but we cannot conclude that they are different varieties because of their different blooms. Therefore, Wu Enyuan, a master of artistic orchid of the generation, said: "Because there are good and bad methods of planting, the results will be high and low." That's the truth. The true knowledge of species identification. The identification of orchid varieties should be viewed dialectically and comprehensively, and one should not blindly see the mountain with one leaf and jump to conclusions. The correct method should be to look at the leaf shape, flower buds, and opening.

National Orchid

Chinese orchid is referred to as National Orchid, which usually refers to some terrestrial species of the genus Cymbidium. The pseudobulbs are small, with linear leaves and fleshy roots; the flower stems are upright, with 1 to 10 flowers. The flowers are small and fragrant, usually light green with purple-red spots. The leaf and flower morphology and flowering period vary greatly among different species. Produced in the south and southwest of Qinling Mountains. It has a long history of cultivation, at least more than a thousand years, and is one of China's top ten traditional famous flowers. Since ancient times, people have regarded orchids as a symbol of nobility, elegance, patriotism and perseverance. The orchid culture with strong Chinese national characteristics has been formed. Propagate by division, seeding or tissue culture. Potted plants in humus soil require good ventilation and drainage; they like a semi-shady and humid environment. The overwintering temperature of Molan Jianlan and Hanlan is about 10℃, and the other species are about 5℃.

The origin and history of Guolan

The Chinese orchid known today as Guolan was called Lanhui in ancient times. Just as Huang Tingjian (1045-1105) of the Northern Song Dynasty described orchids in "Youfang Pavilion": "A stem with one flower and more than enough fragrance is an orchid; a stem with five or seven flowers but not enough fragrance is a rhizome."

We Chinese have been appreciating and cultivating orchids much earlier than the orchids cultivated in the West. As early as 2,400 years ago in the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius, the ancestor of Chinese culture, once said: "Orchids grow in deep valleys, and they are not fragrant because there are no people there. A gentleman cultivates morality and does not change his moral character because of poverty." He also called orchids "the fragrance of kings" and this sentence has been passed down to this day, which is enough to prove the status of Chinese orchids in history and culture.

However, there are different views on the description of orchid in Confucius' era. Some people believe that during the Spring and Autumn Period, the Wei State was in northern Henan (today's Huaxian area) and the Lu State was in Shandong. It was impossible for Confucius to see the lush wild orchids on his way from northern Henan to Shandong. Therefore, the Zhilan he refers to actually refers to the herbaceous plant adenophora in the Asteraceae family. But some people hold another view. They believe that Confucius's description of the orchid valley is a very accurate description of the orchid ecological environment at that time. Moreover, the climate at that time was warmer than today. Bamboo still grew in Henan, and orchids must be distributed in mountains where there are bamboos. Therefore, it was not unusual for Confucius to see orchids blooming when he was passing through deep forests and valleys. The orchids he mentioned were actually orchids as they are called today. In ancient times, people mainly collected wild orchids at first. As for artificial cultivation of orchids, they started in the palace. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, orchids were cultivated from the palace to the private gardens of the scholar-bureaucrats, and were used to decorate the gardens and beautify the environment, as described in Cao Zhi's poem "Autumn Orchids Cover Long Slopes". It was not until the Tang Dynasty that the cultivation of orchids developed to be cultivated in general gardens and flower farmers. For example, Li Bai, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote poems such as "The fragrance of orchids is far away in the wind, and the fragrance of orchids flows through the roots." :

The Song Dynasty was the heyday of the history of orchid art in China, and there were many books and descriptions about orchid art. For example, "Erya Wings" written by Luo Yuan of the Song Dynasty has "The leaves of orchids are like sand, and they bloom in the first spring. The flowers are very fragrant, and they are mostly born in the forest. When the breeze passes by, the fragrance reaches outside, so it is called Zhilan. Jiangnan. There is a saying that orchids only bloom in spring, and those in Jingchu and central Fujian bloom again in autumn and summer." The "Jinzhang Orchid Book" written by Zhao Shigeng of the Southern Song Dynasty in 1233 can be said to be the earliest work on orchids preserved in my country and the first monograph on orchids in the world. The book is divided into three volumes and five parts. It briefly describes the morphological characteristics of more than 30 varieties of purple orchids (mainly Molan orchid) and white orchid (i.e. Suxin Jianlan), and discusses the taste of orchids. Following the "Jinzhang Orchid Pu", Wang Guixue wrote the "Wang's Orchid Pu" in 1247, which gave detailed descriptions of more than 30 orchid varieties. In addition, there is also a book "Orchid Species Aofa" in the Song Dynasty. This book mainly describes the cultivation methods, which are divided into seeding method, flower planting method, settling and watering method, watering method, flower planting method and method of removing ants and lice. and miscellaneous methods and other seven parts.

As for the book "Must Use the Art of Planting" written by Wu Zan, it also introduces the cultivation of orchids. In 1256, Chen Jingyi wrote "Quanfang Beizu" with a more detailed description of orchids. The entire book was collected in the Japanese Imperial Palace Treasury. In 1979, Japan returned the photocopy to my country. In the Song Dynasty, orchids were used as themes in traditional Chinese paintings, such as "Spring Orchid" painted by Zhao Mengjian, which is considered to be the earliest famous orchid painting in existence and is now collected in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, orchid art entered a period of prosperity. With the increasing number of orchid varieties and increasing cultivation experience, orchid cultivation has become a popular sight. At this time, there were a large number of books, picture albums, poems and orchid patterns printed on porcelain and certain handicrafts describing orchids, such as Zhang Yingmin's "Luolizhai Orchid Pu" in the Ming Dynasty and Gao Lian's "Eight Notes of Zunsheng" Description of Lan. The book "Compendium of Materia Medica" written by Li Shizhen, a pharmacologist in the Ming Dynasty. There is also a relatively complete discussion of the names, categories and uses of orchids. There were also many monographs on orchids in the Qing Dynasty, such as "Lanhui Tongxin Lu" in 1805, written by Xu from Jiaxing, Zhejiang. He was addicted to orchids, was good at painting orchids, and had rich experience in orchids. The book is divided into two volumes. The first volume describes the knowledge of orchid planting, and the second volume describes the identification and classification methods of orchid varieties. The book records 57 varieties and is accompanied by line drawings drawn by him. Others include Yuan Shijun's "A Brief Description of Lan Yan", Du Wenlan's "Four Essays on Lan Yi", Mao Xiang's "Lan Yan", Zhu Kerou's "Notes on the First Fragrance", Tu Yongning's "Lan Hui Mirror", Zhang Guangzhao's "Xing Lan" "Orchid Genealogy", Yue Liang's "Orchid Cultivating Theory", Wang Hao's "Guangqun Fang Pu", Wu Qijun's "Illustrated Research on Plant Names and Facts", Ou Jince's "Linghai Orchid Talk" in the late Qing Dynasty, etc., still have certain influence to this day. reference value.

Yilan has developed into modern times. There is "A Brief History of Lanhui" published in 1923, written by Wu Enyuan, a native of Hangxian County, Zhejiang. Based on "Lanhui Tongxinlu", he gave a comprehensive introduction to the orchid varieties and cultivation methods at that time in three volumes. The whole book described 161 famous orchid flowers in Zhejiang, and was accompanied by many photos and illustrations. The pictures and texts are rich and fascinating. In addition, "How to Plant Orchids" written by Xia Zhibin in 1930; "Orchid" co-edited by Hangzhou Yao Yumiao and Zhu Youren in 1950; "Orchid Hui of Sichuan" written by Chengdu Garden Bureau in 1963; "Xiamen Orchid" compiled by Yan Chujiang of Fujian in 1964; "Orchid" written by Wu Yingxiang in 1980 and "Chinese Orchid" written in 1991, as well as books introducing orchids published in Hong Kong and Taiwan and magazines, etc., can be said to be a major achievement in the study of modern Chinese orchid.

Yilan originated in China and spread to Japan and North Korea. Today, Japan is very interested in Chinese orchids, and its historical origins also started in China. Nowadays, Japan's orchid cultivation has established its own system and has developed into a base known as "Orchid Orchid". As for North Korea, orchid has also become an essential thing that the North Korean people admire, and orchids have become an elegant flower for the North Korean people today, displayed in their bedrooms, apartments, and lobbies. What is even more praiseworthy is that they give orchids as a high-end gift.

Man is the spirit of all things. Orchid is the flower of all flowers. I hope orchid will naturally enter the world of people's hearts, and together we will carry forward orchid art, the traditional quintessence of the Chinese nation, make friends with orchids, and make progress together.

Ocean orchid

Ocean orchid is relative to the national orchid, and generally refers to orchids other than the national orchid. In fact, not all of them are native to the West. Common ones include: cattleya, Tiger head orchid, Phalaenopsis, Paphiopedilum, oncidium, Vanda orchid, dendrobium, etc., which pay attention to flower shape and color, are generally native to tropical and semi-tropical areas, and are mostly epiphytic. Their cultivation requires higher temperature and humidity. It is the most popular flower in the world today.