How to appreciate plain-colored Chinese orchids? Master these key appraisal points

Plain-colored flowers have only a single pure color (whether white, yellow, pinkish green, peach red, or even entirely black), with no purplish-red stripes or spots. Those with a plain-colored lip are called plain-heart orchids. If color appears at the base of the lip, they belong to the peach-cheek plain type. Plain-colored flowers and plain-heart flowers have the modest, elegant bearing of a gentleman, matching the traditional Eastern cultural value of "prizing the plain." Their mellow, unadorned fragrance has been appreciated by literati and refined scholars through the ages, and they are also an excellent orchid variety with low risk for modern growers. As more people seek plain-colored orchids, cultivating them makes them all the more precious. 

(1) Veins: the slender vein lines on the bract. When the veins are slender, extend to the top, soft and smooth, sparse rather than dense, and slightly glossy, flowers with petal types often appear. If the veins are thick and extend to the top, the petals will surely be broad, and lotus-petal forms may appear.

If green bracts with green veins appear, or green bracts with white veins, with every vein line reaching the tip and top, and the bract shell glistening and translucent all over, the likelihood of plain-heart flowers appearing is very great. In plum-petal and narcissus-petal forms, the veins are fine and smooth, and the space between them must also be filled with sand-like speckling and haze.

(2) Hemp: short veins on the bract that do not reach the tip and top are called hemp. They often produce unusual petal forms or unusual plain-heart varieties. The hemp veins are sparse among themselves and also filled with colorful sand-like speckling and haze. By color they are divided into green hemp, red hemp, brown hemp, and white hemp. By how early they emerge from the soil, they are divided into deep and light.

(3) Sand and haze: fine, dust-like specks scattered among the vein lines are called sand. When densely gathered like thick smoke or heavy mist, they are called haze. When sand and haze appear on the bract shell, plum-petal and narcissus-petal forms often appear. When the sand and haze are soft and the color is either white or green, plain-heart flowers often appear.

(4) Shell: refers to the bract. It comes in various colors; mercury-red shell, green shell, and red shell turning green are the most likely to produce famous flowers. A shell that is thin yet hard and of glutinous color counts as top grade; if the shell is thin and soft, it is called "rotten clothing" and ranks as inferior; a shell that is thick and hard with glutinous color will produce good flowers.

When green shell with green veins, white shell with green veins, fine veins with slender hemp, glistening and translucent, reach the tip and top, and the sand, haze, shell, veins, and hemp are all the same color, plain-heart petals often appear. If the flower-bud bract shell is tight, round, and sturdy, with a complete, full lower part, a lotus-petal flower will undoubtedly appear. If the space between the veins on the belly of the bract shell is filled with sand and haze, and there are also round-pearl-like protruding white dots, plum-petal and narcissus-petal forms often appear. But the shell color must not have an excessive luster with a bright, shell-like stony look.