Introduction to the Cymbidium goeringii 'Ruihe' (also known as 'Gujuhe') variety

In January 2005, Pan Ruiping (the discoverer of Ruihe) went orchid hunting in Ningbo together with Wang Linchun and Huang Huogen from the same village, and Zhu Bosheng and Xiao Zhijun from a neighboring village; I was the first-time orchid hunter among them. We searched around Xianxiang for three days without finding anything, then on the fourth day we moved on to Guju, and on the morning of the sixth day, on a small hillside behind a village called Jianling'ao (I saw the local house number when coming down the mountain), the very first plant I came across on the mountain was this one. The three people ahead had almost stepped on it. Maybe it was orchid luck, maybe it was meant to be mine - anyway, there was something legendary about it. The plant was about 25 cm tall, with a plump round bud about the size of a soybean, short and round. There were four growths, two pseudobulbs and two flower buds. I pulled it up casually and peeled open one bud for everyone to see; they were all laymen and had no idea what it was. Some said it looked like a fairy, some said it was the worst kind of plum blossom type, and all said it was worthless. I immediately gave one old growth and two old pseudobulbs free of charge to Linchun and Huogen from the same village (due to poor care, they died after half a year of cultivation).

  After going home, it was only after an expert looked at it that I realized I had found a good flower that would open as a lotus-petal type. I hurried to take photos. Because the bud peeled open on the mountain was somewhat trapped, Bosheng and the others peeled off the remaining bud on the plant and sent it for photographs. How foolish``````

  At the time it caused a local sensation; every day hundreds of people went up the mountain to dig for orchids, and for a while there was a constant stream of visitors at my door.

  In the first half of 2006, four local famous orchid growers - Mr. Lu Deyun of Xingyun Orchid Garden, Mr. Xu Yuanyang of Hanxiang House, Mr. Chen Jiang of Yaqu House and one other - successively reserved one growth each at a high price. At the time it was a gamble on an unflowered plant, but they had all come to see it when it was brought down from the mountain. On October 15 of that year the deal was closed after cutting the growths; the growth belonging to Mr. Yuanyang had once borne a bud, which was peeled off when the plant was divided.

  In 2007, a bud appeared on a growth less than 10 cm tall. Because this growth had been severely damaged when brought down from the mountain and had almost no roots, and because of poor management it grew very poorly indeed, in February 2008 it produced a freak flower not fit to be shown; after having someone photograph it, I removed it.

  Features of this flower: tall flower scape, a rare case of a lotus-petal type held above the leaves, emerald color, thick and velvety petals, level shoulders, excellent flower retention, and no deformation after 20 days in bloom. Because Hanxiang House had only three growths, and because the two side petals appear asymmetrical - in fact the lower part of the left petal curls backward, so it is symmetrical - it was never shown on public occasions such as orchid exhibitions, and therefore fewer people know of this flower.