How to distinguish Songchun from Erbahui, Lulan, Taoyelan, and Qiuzhi
The origin and breeding date of the Chunjiang "Yinsi Xueyu" are both unclear. It is known that it was initially cultivated by a Huang surnamed orchid enthusiast in Dayi County, Sichuan, and later purchased at a high price by Mr. Wang Xuechang of Dujiangyan City, and was given its beautiful name by Mr. Mo Daixiang, a leading figure in Sichuan's orchid circles. In the spring of 2000, Hangzhou held the National Orchid Expo, and Wang Xuechang brought "Yinsi Xueyu"...
Songchun is one of the varieties of Huilan (Cymbidium faberi). It is widely distributed in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi and other provinces. It has relatively many leaves, generally 7 to 13, up to as many as 18, light in color, with relatively thin and soft leaf texture, generally curved and drooping, with inconspicuous leaf veins. More of its leaves are arranged in a V shape at the base, with a relatively obvious petiole ring; the pseudobulb is not very obvious; the flower scape is slightly curved, and the flowers are not as small as some literature says, but vary from large to small, with large ones reaching a flower diameter of about 10 cm; the sepals are more or less curled or twisted; the fragrance types are very rich. The flowers often come in 5, 7, or 9 blooms. Therefore there is the saying of five-child, seven-child, and nine-child Songchun; the flowering period is usually from February to April.
Songchun is very beautiful. First, its leaves are arranged in an overlapping fan shape, forming a graceful arc, neat rather than messy, and quite aesthetically pleasing. In my view, the vast majority of varieties cannot compare with it; second, Songchun has many flowers, they stand above the foliage, and the flowers are delicately fragrant, not as intense as Huilan, nor as stuffy-sweet as Chunlan. It is a wafting, gentle fragrance that comes in waves and refreshingly reaches the heart. The leaves are emerald green and fresh, lush and verdant, full of vitality, showing strong life force, making it an excellent landscaping orchid species. Third, Songchun has good leaf variegation contrast, with relatively wide leaves, a large number of leaves, and vigorous growth. The leaf variegation has a green background and snow-white pattern, very beautiful, and the ornamental value of leaf-variegated plants is relatively high.
Songchun is a relatively primitive orchid type. It has strong vitality, stable traits, and slow evolution, and the probability of mutating into good flowers is relatively low. The reason is that Songchun still displays its traits in the offspring of crosses with other orchid species, and hybridization can hardly change its primitive traits to produce excellent horticultural ornamental varieties. Relying solely on evolution among pure Songchun plants, because its traits are stable and its gene mutation capacity is poor, its evolution is relatively slow. Therefore, the horticultural cultivated varieties that have been domesticated so far are relatively fewer than those of other orchid types, and obtaining a fine Songchun flower appears especially precious. The social stock of superb Songchun varieties is relatively small.
Many people pass off fakes as genuine: they call Songchun other varieties, but in fact it is an independent quality.
Erbahui belongs to Chunhui, similar to Chunlan, with light fragrance or no fragrance, a large pseudobulb, and a leaf posture similar to Chunlan. It has no petiole ring.
Taoyelan: Its leaf shape is extremely similar to Songchun, and it also has a petiole ring, but not as obvious as Songchun's. It also has many flowers, but on careful distinction there are still differences. First, the base of Taoyelan's leaves is U-shaped, while Songchun's is V-shaped; second, Taoyelan has more leaves than Songchun, at least more than ten, and at most several dozen; third, Taoyelan's flowering period is from October each year to January or February of the following year, while Songchun's is from March to April.
Lulan: It is the most similar to Songchun, but the fundamental difference is that it has no petiole ring. The plant color is emerald green, and the leaf texture is smooth and delicate, just like green jade. Even if it is an ordinary plant kept at home for greening and enjoying the fragrance, it is high-end, elegant, and classy. Its flowering period happens to be during New Year's Day and Spring Festival, exactly filling the gap left by Qiuzhi and Songchun. Therefore, calling it "Lulan" is very appropriate.
Qiuzhi: Clustered leaves 6-8, narrowly overlapping at the base, with a "V"-shaped cross-section, leathery and hard, also known as "Tiegan Qiuzhi". The leaf joint is obvious, and the strap-shaped leaves gradually curve upward, with a smooth dark green surface, 60-70 cm long and 1-2 cm wide, and coarse teeth on the middle and upper margins. It flowers from September to October, with an upright flower scape taller than the leaf cluster, (about 40 cm high) bearing 5-7 flowers, and the flowers are delicately fragrant; the sepals are oblong-lanceolate, yellow-green, and the petals are slightly shorter and wider, slightly incurved around the column, yellow-green, with purple stripes at the base; the lip is three-lobed, with the mid-lobe yellow-white, densely covered with purple-red spots on the disc, and the tip slightly rolled back, and the side lobes upright and purple-red; the column is boat-shaped, green on the back and with fine purple spots on the ventral side, and the anther cap is yellow.