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Characteristics and Appreciation of the Zhu Shi Jiu Qi Huilan Orchid Variety

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Zhu Shi Jiu Qi was discovered in Shanghai in April 2001. Green huilan, with pale emerald-green leaves, graceful leaf posture, and round, glutinous leaf texture forming a "V" shape, leaf length 35-40cm, leaf width 0.6-0.8cm. The flower type is a strange flower that opens in peony, qilin, and jade tree forms. When it came down from the mountain it had two flower scapes, one with 5 blooms and one with 8 blooms, opening in a spherical shape. The flower diameter reaches 6-...
Zhu Shi Jiu Qi was discovered in Shanghai in April 2001. Green huilan, with pale emerald-green leaves, graceful leaf posture, and round, glutinous leaf texture forming a "V" shape, leaf length 35-40cm, leaf width 0.6-0.8cm. The flower type is a strange flower that opens in peony, qilin, and jade tree forms. When it came down from the mountain it had two flower scapes, one with 5 blooms and one with 8 blooms, opening in a spherical shape. The flower diameter reaches 6-7cm, each bloom differs in form, but the characteristics are consistent: multiple petals, multiple lips, multiple columns, fragrant, striped, and butterfly-formed, with several butterfly forms appearing. There are nearly 30 petals, with the widest petals reaching 1cm. It has rebloomed 4 times, like this every year, and blooming better each time. Especially the 2005 rebloom, when 1 scape produced a standard 9 blooms, the flower stem slender and round reaching 62cm, the flower color tender emerald green, standing high above the leaves, utterly charming, a rare small-plant large-flower type strange huilan treasure among huilan flowers. This flower won the gold award at the Second Jiangsu Province Huilan Exhibition.

It is said that in 2005, at the Second Jiangsu Province Huilan Exhibition held in Wuxi, Jiangsu, a pot of green huilan strange flower named "Zhu Shi Jiu Qi" stood out among the many competing exhibits and won the gold award of the exhibition in one stroke. Originally unknown in national orchid circles, "Zhu Shi Jiu Qi" finally made a stunning debut, appearing brilliantly on the scene in this way.

"Zhu Shi Jiu Qi" is a multi-petaled strange flower, classified in flower shape as the peony (or qilin) type, combining the merits of multiple petals with butterfly forms, multiple lips and multiple columns, double-tiered jade tree, and emerald-green outer petals with white striped lines; the flower stem is slender and round reaching 60cm, a standard "green-white lampwick stem," standing tall above the leaves; the small flower stalks are 4-5cm long, with the blooms spaced clearly and elegantly; when the flowers open they form a hemispherical shape, with a diameter reaching 7-8cm, the flower color emerald green with a sense of transparency, revealing flecks of red butterfly markings, appearing extraordinarily enchanting.

"Zhu Shi Jiu Qi" has a graceful and elegant leaf posture, thick and glutinous leaf texture forming a "V" shape, bright and finely moist leaf veins, clearly visible but fine serrations on the leaf margins, dark green glossy and lustrous leaf color, medium-sized plant form, matched with a 60cm tall flower stem and flowers 7-8cm in diameter, making the flowers large and the plant small, incomparably beautiful.

The owner of "Zhu Shi Jiu Qi," Zhu Kefu, is a senior orchid enthusiast from Shanghai, mainly cultivating wild-collected huilan and spring orchids. Besides the already famous "Zhu Shi Jiu Qi," he also owns "Zhu Shi Ju Die" (also known as Shencheng Xiongshi) and a large number of fine varieties including new plum-petal and strange flowers that have not yet formally appeared. Zhu's orchid-growing environment is natural balcony cultivation; although it can prevent rain, there is no shading, and in the severe heat and cold the orchids develop strong physiques, with strong roots and abundant leaves, growing delightfully.

"Zhu Shi Jiu Qi" was discovered in 2001 in a deep mountain place called Dongzhi at the border of Anhui and Jiangxi. An employee at the original workplace of Mr. Zhu's wife was a local native; hearing that Mr. Zhu liked growing orchids, he introduced the local orchid-producing situation to Mr. Zhu, arousing Mr. Zhu's wish to visit the area. In the spring of 2001, during the huilan flowering season, Mr. Zhu came to Dongzhi in the deep mountains. At that time there were almost no mountain farmers in Dongzhi who made a living by digging orchids; generally, during the flowering season, one could just walk casually on the mountain and dig up many flowering huilan, so it was only natural that there was no orchid market. The locals kept orchids at home just to smell the fragrance, and good orchids and ordinary orchids could not and need not be distinguished. At the time Mr. Zhu often held orchid books and photos, asking locals whether they had seen similar petal-shaped flowers. Several days passed in a flash, and just when Mr. Zhu was despairing of whether he could obtain a good flower, a turning point quietly appeared. There was a mountain farmer who specialized in digging medicinal herbs; on the mountain he had seen an orchid very similar to the strange flower in the book, and because it was different from other orchids and looked very beautiful, he remembered where the orchid grew. Upon hearing the news, Mr. Zhu immediately asked the herb farmer to go collect it. Two days later, the herb farmer returned with the "Zhu Shi Jiu Qi" that was in the process of budding. When Mr. Zhu saw this flower, he was immediately overcome by its spiritual charm. Because it then bore two flower scapes, he carefully opened one scape's buds to verify, and from top to bottom without exception they were all multi-petaled multi-butterfly strange flowers, so he bought it at 6,000 yuan per seedling, 11 seedlings of grass totaling 66,000 yuan. But good things come with hardships: just as Mr. Zhu was overjoyed at obtaining a good flower, news came that a local tyrant was coming to seize the orchid, frightening Mr. Zhu into finding a way to leave Dongzhi overnight. After returning to Shanghai, the other flower scape also smoothly opened beautiful flowers, and the huilan rarity "Zhu Shi Jiu Qi" finally settled in Shanghai.

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