A detailed explanation of methods for identifying Cymbidium faberi varieties, teaching you to distinguish varieties with ease

The identification of Cymbidium faberi varieties is discussed relatively little in the various orchid writings, and it has long been known as "ghost flower" and "Cymbidium faberi has no outward appearance." However, the author still believes that orchids are like people: when a thin person extends a hand, even if you do not look at the face or figure, you can certainly know this person is thin; needless to say, if the hand is thick and plump, you know the person is fat. As for the identification of Cymbidium goeringii varieties, the author expressed his views in the post "Identifying Cymbidium goeringii Varieties by Looking at Flower Buds." As for Cymbidium faberi, the author will also offer a few views here, showing off one's slight skill before an expert, and respectfully invites all orchid friends to correct me.

    In the daily management of fine-flowered Cymbidium faberi plants, after many comparisons with the plants, leaf buds, and flower buds of ordinary Cymbidium faberi flowers, the author found that fine flowers and ordinary flowers more or less show some subtle differences on the Cymbidium faberi plant. After sorting out these differences, one can conclude: Cymbidium faberi, like Cymbidium goeringii, also displays different characteristics of ordinary flowers and fine flowers on the plant body and flower buds, only less obviously than Cymbidium goeringii. For this reason, the author selected some photographs for analysis to identify the key points for distinguishing Cymbidium faberi varieties, for orchid friends newly entering the orchid field to refer to when identifying and selecting Cymbidium faberi.

    Cymbidium faberi leaves: Cymbidium faberi, also known as nine-node orchid and nine-head orchid, generally opens nine flowers per scape. The roots are thick and long, the pseudobulb is not obvious, and there are 5-9 leaves, 25-80 cm long and about 1 cm wide, with a V-shaped cross-section and coarse serrated edges. After long-term cultivation, the leaves of wild Cymbidium faberi become shorter and wider. It is precisely because of this trait that identifying downhill Cymbidium faberi varieties by leaves is extremely difficult, so much so that incidents repeatedly occur in which old famous varieties are planted deep in the mountains, become wild, and are then brought downhill to pass off as new varieties.

   

    Difficult as it is, it is not that there are no characteristics at all to follow. Upon careful observation, it has been found that as long as the leaves of a certain Cymbidium faberi differ greatly from normal Cymbidium faberi leaves, such as being especially fat and broad, so fat and broad that the proportion to the leaves is extremely disproportionate; or especially thin and narrow and long, which of course must also be extremely disproportionate to the leaves; as well as leaves that are especially hard or especially soft, and plants with especially many leaves, all can be selected. The probability of producing fine flowers from plants with the above characteristics is very high.

    Due to indiscriminate collection and digging of orchids, in recent years few Cymbidium faberi plants from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang area have appeared in the Nanjing flower market. What is more numerous are downhill Cymbidium faberi plants from the mountainous areas of Anhui, Henan, and Hubei. The results of orchid friends' selections over the years have also confirmed the folk saying about identifying Cymbidium faberi varieties by their leaves: "Hard ones produce Mei, soft ones produce Xian, especially narrow and super-long ones produce rare flowers." For example, the photograph posted online by orchid friend Wei Xinglin (see the attached "Cymbidium faberi odd leaf" photograph); this kind of Cymbidium faberi plant whose central leaf shows butterfly transformation is very likely to produce a stamen butterfly flower. Another example is the Cymbidium faberi plant shown in the "especially narrow and super-long leaf Cymbidium faberi" photograph; generally speaking, such Cymbidium faberi plants have a very high probability of producing odd flowers. If one encounters a Cymbidium faberi plant with such leaves, one should resolutely select and keep it, and absolutely not let it slip by easily.

     Photograph "Cymbidium faberi Odd Leaf"

        Photograph "Especially Narrow and Super-Long Leaf Cymbidium faberi"

    Cymbidium faberi buds: When the leaf bud of Cymbidium faberi first opens at the tip, the subtle differences between fine flowers and ordinary flowers will more or less appear at the leaf tip. As long as we seize the opportunity and observe and distinguish carefully, we can also gain something.

   The author posted online the thread "Observe Leaf Buds, Distinguish Varieties, Select New Plants." In the post it was written: "Through years of observation of leaf buds, it has been found that among the leaf buds sent out by old famous varieties of Cymbidium goeringii plum petals and narcissus petals, the vast majority have an obvious milky white dot at the tip of the leaf. This dot is slightly smaller than a grain of millet, bead-shaped, and is even clearer when viewed with a magnifying glass. Examples include 'Tianxing Mei,' 'Tianlu Mei,' 'Rui Mei,' 'Qinghe Mei,' 'Yaoshi Xian,' 'Cui Tao,' and others, but a few also lack it or have it indistinctly. If it is a plain Mei such as 'Caixian Su,' then it is a pure green bud bearing small white beads. In practice, selecting plants this way (when the flowers have faded or there are no flowers), as long as the leaf bud is undamaged and the bud tip can be seen clearly, if the bud tip has this small milky white bead, it can be taken; it is certainly a narcissus petal or plum petal. I have selected several this way, and after flowering 100% were plum or narcissus petals. If it is a pure green bud bearing this thing, then it must be a plain Mei or narcissus petal." Through observation, this phenomenon also exists in Cymbidium faberi, and good-flowering butterfly Cymbidium faberi also have this thing. The appearance of this white-head transformation at the leaf bud tip of narcissus and plum petal Cymbidium faberi is less obvious than in Cymbidium goeringii, but when viewed carefully with a magnifying glass, fine flowers and ordinary flowers still differ. For Cymbidium faberi plants with a tendency toward narcissus or plum petals, the leaf tip should be crystalline like glutinous rice and radiate downward from the bud tip. Cymbidium faberi butterflies also have this phenomenon; see the photographs "Cymbidium faberi New Mei 1 Leaf Bud," "Cymbidium faberi New Mei 2 Leaf Bud," and "Cymbidium faberi Butterfly Leaf Bud." Of course, identifying Cymbidium faberi varieties by leaf buds is harder than for Cymbidium goeringii. The difficulty lies in this: if it is a fine-flowered Cymbidium faberi, generally there will be characteristics appearing at the leaf tip; conversely, those showing these characteristics at the leaf tip are not necessarily fine flowers. It can only be said that Cymbidium faberi plants whose leaf tips carefully reveal these characteristics can first be selected and kept as hopeful plants for cultivation. If the price is high, one may combine this with a more detailed analysis of their flower buds before deciding whether to discard or keep them.

       Photograph "Cymbidium faberi New Mei 1 Leaf Bud"

     Photograph "Cymbidium faberi New Mei 2 Leaf Bud"

           Photograph "Cymbidium faberi Butterfly Leaf Bud"

    Cymbidium faberi buds: For Cymbidium faberi, as with Cymbidium goeringii, the method with greater certainty for identifying varieties is still observing the flower buds. Whether it is an old variety or a new downhill plant, as long as one grasps the identification key points at different stages of flower scape emergence and combines them with the characteristics shown on the orchid leaves or leaf buds for identification, then the certainty will be greater.

    The flower buds of Cymbidium faberi are divided according to the color of the bud shell into green shell, white-green shell, mercury red, red shell, red turning green, and colors intermediate between the above shell colors. Inside the shell are tightly wrapped 7-9 or more flower buds. Because the outer bud shells differ in length and width, the time at which the flower buds emerge from the bud shell during the process of the flower scape rising also differs. Likewise, the appearance of fine-flower and ordinary-flower buds on the outside of the bud shell also differs.

I. Stage when flower buds have not yet emerged from the flower bud

1. Short bud shell: For flower buds with short bud shells, after the flower scape emerges from the soil, the flower buds become exposed from the bud shell, as shown in the photographs "Old Jipin Flower Bud (provided by orchid friend)" and "Cymbidium faberi Butterfly Flower Bud." The parts circled by red squares in the two photographs are the key points we should note when selecting. The tips of Cymbidium faberi flower buds of the plum and narcissus types all show a white head. Grasping this key point, when encountering downhill Cymbidium faberi plants whose buds exposed outside the flower bud show a white head at the tip, one should select and keep them. For butterfly-type Cymbidium faberi flowers whose buds are exposed outside the flower bud, if one carefully observes the side of the bud, there will certainly be butterfly transformation spots on the side of the bud. Therefore, for flower buds with short bud shells, one must grasp this key point and carefully observe the exposed buds to find the special points possessed by fine flowers, so as to be one step ahead in selecting superior plants from downhill Cymbidium faberi.

         Photograph "Old Jipin Flower Bud 1 (provided by orchid friend)"

         Photograph "Old Jipin Flower Bud 2 (provided by orchid friend)"

            Photograph "Cymbidium faberi Butterfly Flower Bud"

2. Long bud shell: Flower buds wrapped by long bud shells of different shapes also appear differently outside the bud shell. Hard-pocket plum petals, because the pocket is thick and round, and the tips of the three outer petals also show a white head, make the tip of the bud large; the bud is melon-hammer-shaped, or the tips of the three outer petals turn outward to form a pomegranate-head shape. Such buds gathered in the flower bud push the bud shell open like a magpie's beak, as shown in the attached photograph "Cymbidium faberi Flower Bud in Magpie-Beak Shape (New Mei Flower Bud)." Of course, some large-nose Cymbidium faberi flowers also show this phenomenon; see the photograph "Magpie-Beak Shape Presented by the Flower Bud of a Large-Nose Flower (ordinary flower bud)." For buds showing a magpie-beak shape, one must also carefully observe the sand and halo on the bud shell. Generally, for such buds whose inner petals have a strong pocket (strong masculinization), the sand and halo on the bud shell appear obviously; for the bud of a large-nose flower, the sand and halo are not obvious, especially at the tip of the shell there is none of that crystalline appearance radiating from top to bottom. See the photographs "Close-up of Large-Nose Flower Bud (ordinary Cymbidium faberi flower)" and "Sand and Halo on the Bud Shell of Cymbidium faberi (New Mei Flower Bud)." Orchid friends may observe the photographs carefully to understand. There is also another kind of flower bud whose bud shell is longer and wrapped especially tightly. For plum-petal Cymbidium faberi buds, because of the protrusion of the pocket, the surface of the bud garment tightly wrapping the bud has bead-like protrusions. See the photograph "Bead-Like Protrusions on the Surface of the Flower Bud (Cymbidium faberi Jiepei Mei Flower Bud)." When encountering downhill Cymbidium faberi plants with such flower buds, all may be selected and kept.

         Photograph "Cymbidium faberi Flower Bud in Magpie-Beak Shape (New Mei Flower Bud)"

       Photograph "Magpie-Beak Shape Presented by the Flower Bud of a Large-Nose Flower (ordinary flower bud)"

       Photograph "Sand and Halo on the Bud Shell of Cymbidium faberi (New Mei Flower Bud)"

       Photograph "Bead-Like Protrusions on the Surface of the Flower Bud (Cymbidium faberi Jiepei Mei Flower Bud)"

3. Colored spot shells: For Cymbidium faberi of various bud shell tones, the color fades from the tip of the shell toward the base, and sand and halo are distributed on the shell. Sand and halo are also an important characteristic for identifying varieties. This point has already been discussed above, so I will not repeat it. In addition, we have also found that, besides sand and halo, extremely few flower bud shells also bear colored spots. Colored spots include plain spots and halo spots. For flower buds with colored spots and flower buds with colored spot patches showing through from within, see the photographs "White Spot Patches Appearing on the Bud Shell (Cymbidium faberi green-flower butterfly flower bud)" and "Colored Spot Patches Showing Through from Within the Flower Bud (Cymbidium faberi butterfly flower bud)." Selection experience tells us that Cymbidium faberi plants with such flower buds have a relatively high probability of producing butterfly flowers; this is the appearance on the bud shell of the butterfly transformation phenomenon of butterfly flowers. Cymbidium faberi plants with such flower buds may also be selected and kept.

Photograph "White Spot Patches Appearing on the Bud Shell (Cymbidium faberi green-flower butterfly flower bud)"

     Photograph "Colored Spot Patches Showing Through from Within the Flower Bud (Cymbidium faberi butterfly flower bud)"

II. Stage when flower buds have already emerged from the flower bud

Once the flower buds have been drawn out from the bud shell, for someone already in the orchid field, whether it is plum, narcissus, or ordinary flower can be distinguished at a glance. Based on the tip shape of the buds, predecessors divided buds into five categories: Qiaozhongmen, Zhoujiaomen, Guanzhongmen, Longfangmen, and Xinghuamen. Each category was further subdivided:

(1) Qiaozhongmen

Centipede pincers: The two lateral petals of the flower bud close together into pincer shape. After the petals open, there are tight edges and thick petal flesh, and the back is closed with a hard shen. This type mostly opens small-tongue Mei; if the nest is divided with a large tongue, few are narcissus petals; if the nest is divided with a soft shen, most open large-tongue Mei, and it ranks first among superior grades, for example Cheng Mei, Old Jipin, and so on.

Large flat cut: The head of the flower bud is as flat as if cut by a knife, with flat edges and thick flesh. Large tongue, mostly divided-nest shenxin. If the head is divided with a closed back and hard shen, small-tongue Mei is few. This form exists among both plum petals and narcissus petals, and it ranks second among superior grades, for example Da Yipin, Yuanzi Xian, and so on. Small flat cut: The three petals are slightly longer, with flat edges and round heads. Divided-nest shenxin and large tongue are the majority; if the back is closed with a hard shen, small tongue is few. Most narcissus petals come from this form, and it ranks third among superior grades. For example Xiao Dang, Da Chen Zi, and so on.

(2) Zhoujiaomen

Melon-seed mouth: Wide edges with civil wrinkles; most open as narcissus petals, few as plum petals. It belongs to the fourth among superior grades.

Pomegranate head: Wide edges with martial wrinkles, flying shen, square notched tongue. This type includes both plum petals and narcissus petals, and ranks fifth among superior grades. For example Fengqiao, Efeng Mei, Duoyun, and so on.

3) Guanzhongmen

Guanzhong shape: The shen pocket is shallow and thick.

Slippery mouth shape: Slightly has a shallow, thin shen pocket.

Almond shape: Wide-edged palm-leaf-fan shen, small tongue. This type is mostly narcissus petals, and belongs to the sixth among superior grades.

(4) Longfangmen 

Commonly known as oil-putty lump. When the bud is about to open, the shenxin is seen first, and the form looks like a stiff, sticky whole. When the three outer petals open, the edges curl and the corners wrinkle, and they cannot spread out flat. For all of this form, the shen petals are mostly fully closed and hard, and some are divided at the head with a closed back. If the shen petals and the lip petals stick together into one piece, it is commonly called three petals and one nose, and it is the poorest flowering form among plum petals and narcissus petals.

5) Xinghuamen

For any flower bud with a sharp tip, narrow and long, after the petals open, the petals all appear sharp and narrow like chicken claws. This form is commonly called coarse flower or ordinary flower, and is a general orchid without petal type. However, if the flower bud is slightly shorter and the upper overlap is deep, sometimes an ordinary lotus petal can also appear.

In Cymbidium faberi, besides the above "five gates and eight forms" of stamen shapes, there are still many other forms, but most do not produce superior good flowers.

    The above is the most essential exposition by predecessors on identifying Cymbidium faberi varieties according to the tip shape of flower buds at the stage when buds have already emerged from the flower bud. According to the key points in the exposition, we can not only distinguish whether the Cymbidium faberi plant in hand is a fine flower or an ordinary flower, but also distinguish the grade of the flower. It is indeed classic theory. However, for people newly entering the orchid field who have not carefully observed the flowering process of Cymbidium faberi flowers, when holding a bundle of Cymbidium faberi at the stage when buds have already emerged from the flower bud, looking at one bulging bud after another, what is "centipede pincers," "large flat cut," "small flat cut," what counts as "melon-seed mouth," "pomegranate head," "slippery mouth shape," "almond shape," and what kind of flower bud counts as sharp-tipped and narrow-long, they may still be at a loss after comparing back and forth. In fact, for beginners who want to select fine flowers from downhill Cymbidium faberi, the purpose of selection is not to distinguish the grade of superior Cymbidium faberi flowers, but to pick out fine flowers from one in ten thousand, or perhaps one in one hundred thousand, downhill Cymbidium faberi plants. As long as one can quickly pick out fine flowers from downhill Cymbidium faberi, that is victory. Therefore, the author believes that when identifying and selecting Cymbidium faberi flowers at the stage when buds have already emerged from the flower bud, we must grasp the unique appearance characteristic of Cymbidium faberi plum and narcissus type petals at the bud tip, namely: the tip of the bud has a whitening phenomenon (commonly called: white head). See "White-Head Phenomenon of Cymbidium faberi Cheng Mei Flower Bud (orchid friend's online post)," "White-Head Phenomenon of Cymbidium faberi Jiepei Mei Flower Bud (orchid friend's online post)," "White-Head Phenomenon of Cymbidium faberi Yuhua Mei," and "White-Head Phenomenon of Cymbidium faberi Pomegranate-Head Flower Bud (orchid friend's online post)." For ordinary Cymbidium faberi flowers, there is no white-head phenomenon; see "Ordinary Cymbidium faberi Flower (orchid friend's online post)." With this unique appearance characteristic, we can quickly take into our bag the plum and narcissus type fine flowers among downhill Cymbidium faberi. As for the grade of the plum and narcissus fine flowers picked out, once you return home you will have enough time to compare slowly according to the above classic theory of predecessors and sort out the grade.

Photograph "White-Head Phenomenon of Cymbidium faberi Cheng Mei Flower Bud (orchid friend's online post)"

Photograph "White-Head Phenomenon of Cymbidium faberi Jiepei Mei Flower Bud (orchid friend's online post)"

Photograph "White-Head Phenomenon of Cymbidium faberi Yuhua Mei"

Photograph "White-Head Phenomenon of Cymbidium faberi Pomegranate-Head Flower Bud (orchid friend's online post)"

Photograph "Ordinary Cymbidium faberi Flower (orchid friend's online post)"

    For Cymbidium faberi butterfly flowers, it is still a matter of observing whether there is a butterfly transformation phenomenon on the side of the bud. For stamen butterflies, observing the bud is slightly more difficult. Generally, the bud shape of a stamen butterfly appears sharp at the upper part and swollen at the lower part, because the lower half inside the stamen butterfly bud is composed of three tongue-root lobes, two more lobes than an ordinary flower. In some stamen butterfly buds, careful observation will reveal that more than one serrated tongue tip is exposed at the tip of the bud. Flower buds with the above phenomena may all be selected and kept.

    Finally, by the way, let me mention especially sharp, thin, and narrow flower buds. See the photograph "Especially Sharp, Thin, and Narrow Flower Bud (few-petal odd flower 'Sha Ou' flower bud)." People generally do not select and keep many of this kind of flower bud, and mountain farmers or orchid merchants will not ask a price for Cymbidium faberi with this kind of flower bud higher than for Cymbidium faberi with ordinary flower buds. The author believes one may spend a small amount of money for a gamble, and it is highly possible to gamble on an odd-flower precious variety.

Photograph "Especially Sharp, Thin, and Narrow Flower Bud (few-petal odd flower 'Sha Ou' flower bud)"

    As for the identification and selection of flower buds that can produce lotus petals, predecessors discussed it even less. To tell the truth, the lotus-petal Cymbidium faberi flowers shown in various orchid books at present, such as the photographs of "Shengli Da He," "Lü Guan He," "Lü Kui," "Lü Hui He Ding," and so on, upon careful inspection are all spread-tongue and curled-tongue lotus-form large-petal flowers. Only "Ding Xiao He" has a tongue that still looks somewhat proper, but after careful discrimination it is found that although called a lotus petal, it is actually just a superior floating-gate narcissus variety, and cannot be counted as a true lotus-petal Cymbidium faberi flower. With no true lotus petals, of course there is less comparison, and with less comparison, of course no subtle characteristics have been discovered. However, from many years of experience in selecting downhill Cymbidium faberi flowers, when encountering Cymbidium faberi plants in which the two outer leaves of each plant have round and blunt leaf tips, a fat, broad, and thick leaf shape, and the leaf surface has dragons rising or sand-grain-like fleshy protrusions, and the outer bud shell of the flower bud is broad and large, cupping over another spread bud shell, and if the flower buds are exposed, the buds are like peanut kernels one by one, all such Cymbidium faberi plants with such flower buds may be selected and kept, and the probability of producing lotus-form flowers is relatively high. When one cannot select a true lotus-petal Cymbidium faberi flower, using a lotus-form flower as a substitute is also not unacceptable. If one wants to find a lotus-petal Cymbidium faberi flower with a large Liu Hai tongue like Cymbidium goeringii "Zheng Tong He" or "Huanqiu He Ding," then it truly is: with this flower and this life, it is enough; it is truly a miracle among miracles.

    The above is the author's discussion, using photographs of old Cymbidium faberi varieties and some new downhill flowers showing differences in plants, leaf buds, flower buds, and buds compared with ordinary flowers, of the key points for identifying and selecting Cymbidium faberi varieties. The purpose is to provide reference for orchid friends newly entering the orchid field or not very familiar with Cymbidium faberi when identifying and selecting Cymbidium faberi plants. Of course, the above can also play some role for orchid friends in distinguishing true from false and fine from ordinary flowers when purchasing old Cymbidium faberi varieties, so as to achieve the goal of being deceived less or not deceived at all.

At present, it is the early stage of Cymbidium faberi flower selection. If the above "Essential Points for Identifying and Selecting Cymbidium faberi Varieties" can bring orchid friends a little inspiration when selecting Cymbidium faberi flowers, help them take fewer detours, spend a little less money, and pick up a few bargains from downhill Cymbidium faberi, then while being happy for you, the author will also be endlessly delighted.