Appreciation and Introduction of the Cold Orchid Variety "Lijiang Chunse"

Narrow-leaf cold orchid. When collected from the wild, it had two growths and three residual leaves with variegation and residual draft flowers; after being taken in, the new growths produced were green-leaf type. Later, the green-leaf type was divided off, and using the old backbulbs, a variegation was coaxed out that was initially yellow, turning to snow-white draft variegation. By September 2008, the leaf variegation had developed to the point that three connected growths were cut off. In 2007, from the originally divided green-leaf type, one growth emerged with leaf variegation, an initially bright-type snow-white draft, except the variegation was all carried on the leaf sheaths, with relatively little variegation on the leaves themselves; it is hoped that by 2009 there will again be three connected growths. It can be stated with certainty that this cold orchid's flower variegation has already stabilised, and the leaf variegation is in the process of evolving. The flower variegation belongs to the delayed-brightening type. The flower buds remain yellow variegation until the large bract stage, then turn to white variegation when they open; the degree of whiteness is related to how long they remain open - under normal conditions, two or three days after opening they turn completely white. The plant comes in two kinds: the green-leaf type and the variegated white type; the variegated ones include both initially bright porcelain-white variegation and initially bright yellow turning to porcelain-white. It readily produces green-leaf type, and likewise the green-leaf type readily suddenly puts out new variegated growths.