Douban Orchid
Douban Orchid, one of the many excellent orchid varieties in Yunnan, with the flying-shoulder form being one of its flower shapes. Douban Orchid is a subspecies of Chunlan (Cymbidium goeringii); when not in bloom, it looks much like Chunlan and is very hard to tell apart. Once in bloom, there is no question: Douban Orchid has thick, deep-green petals and a fine flower shape, but no fragrance. Fragrant Douban...
Douban Orchid is a subspecies of Chunlan (Cymbidium goeringii); when not in bloom, it looks much like Chunlan and is very hard to tell apart. Once in bloom, there is no question: Douban Orchid has thick, deep-green petals and a fine flower shape, but no fragrance.
Fragrant Douban is rarely seen; it is a cross between Douban Orchid and Chunlan (Cymbidium goeringii) or Lianban (Cymbidium tortisepalum). To tell a non-blooming Douban Orchid apart, look at it this way. Chunlan leaves are more slender, short and soft, while Douban Orchid leaves are thicker, harder and wider than those of Chunlan, rather wild and unrestrained, and the roots are also thicker and longer than those of Chunlan. Even so, when you see a Douban Orchid it is still hard to distinguish; it is best to get one Douban Orchid and one Chunlan, hold them in your hands and compare them, and you will know everything.
Because it grows in the special natural environment of the plateau, influenced by complex topography and landforms, diverse climate types, strong plateau ultraviolet radiation, rich underground mineral deposits and other combined factors, it has the following traits, characteristics and merits:
Leaf type: Leaf types include fine-leaf, medium-wide-leaf and wide-leaf; fine-leaf and medium-wide-leaf are more commonly seen, semi-pendulous, with fine serrations along the leaf margins; leaves grow in clumps of 4-6, linear, 30-40 cm long and about 0.3-1 cm wide, with 3-4 leaf sheaths tightly clasping and strong, robust in growth, graceful and flowing; there are also variegated leaves, unusual leaves, dwarf varieties, etc.;
Flowering period:
It flowers slightly earlier than Chunlan (Cymbidium goeringii) types such as Duoxiang and Lianban (Cymbidium tortisepalum); generally it begins blooming from the end of November and continues to March of the following year. Its flowering period is longer than that of Chunlan, and the flowers generally stay open for thirty to forty days without fading, while the longest can stay open for sixty to seventy days;
Flower type:
The flowers rise above the leaves, with upright scapes about 12-18 cm tall, each scape bearing 1 flower, occasionally 2, with a flower diameter of 5-7 cm; the petals are usually thicker and larger than those of Duoxiang, so it has relatively good petal forms, with many plum-petal, lotus-petal, lotus-type petal and lotus-type narcissus-petal forms, commonly with flat shoulders and flying shoulders, and sometimes with hard incurved column and semi-hard incurved column; there are many petal-form variations, including multi-petal, few-petal, strange-petal, clustered-petal, chrysanthemum-petal, side-petal butterfly, column-petal butterfly, core butterfly, hard incurved column, semi-hard incurved column and tree type.
Such rich petal forms and variations not only accord with the aesthetics of China's traditional orchid culture, but also satisfy the aesthetic pursuit of many trendy orchid lovers for petal forms that are new, strange and unusual; what is even rarer is that Douban Orchid's petal-form traits are relatively stable and will not, like some other orchid varieties, fail to open to their proper form after being brought down from the mountain and reflowering; Douban Orchid's petal forms are not only stable, but under horticultural cultivation also tend to improve generation by generation; variant varieties such as strange flowers and butterfly flowers mostly also hold steady.
Flower color
Mostly pea-green, but with many variations: orange-red, vermilion-gold, red, peach-red, yellow, golden-yellow, purple-red, white, etc.; of special note is that among them the vermilion-gold flower series has extremely vivid color, very eye-catching and dazzling, and it brightens later, becoming redder the more it is exposed to sun and more brilliant the longer it blooms; some petals (especially the lip) also carry a layer of sparkling crystal sand, appearing warm, moist, fine and glutinous, which has drawn much attention from Japanese orchid growers who have come to Yunnan many times to collect them. China's traditional orchid aesthetics regarded clear, light, plain and elegant colors as beautiful; as Western influence spread eastward, Chinese people's aesthetics regarding orchids also changed greatly, and since plain-hearted varieties were developed long ago and are numerous, most are no longer rare varieties and have become commonplace, so many orchid lovers began to pursue richly varied, passionate and unrestrained orchid colors; Douban Orchid's flower colors are extremely brilliant, red as the morning sun, white as auspicious snow, yellow surpassing gold, green especially like fine jade... bright and dazzling, pleasing to the eye, and to a large degree catering to the modern aesthetics of many orchid lovers; in addition, colored flowers are not rare among orchids, but among Douban Orchids the multi-colored flowers or bordered flowers with vivid color contrast and rich complexity are superior to ordinary single-color colored flowers, adding even more charm. However, Douban Orchid colored flowers (especially vermilion-gold flowers) tend to lose color relatively easily when brought down from the mountain and reflowering; those that can reproduce their color generally will also hold it steady.
Floral art
There are mid-transparent, striped-flower, bordered, multi-colored, spotted-flower, crystal-flower and so on.
Plain heart
There are green plain, yellow plain, golden-yellow plain, red plain (all-red lip), peach-cheek plain and so on.
Flower fragrance
Generally it has no fragrance; frankly speaking, this is the flaw in Douban Orchid's beauty and one of the main reasons it was long neglected, but because it is relatively closely related to Duoxiang and its ecological environment and flowering period in the same region are basically consistent, the two often cross naturally; the common ones are golden-yellow Douban and "Fragrant Douban," with slight or fresh fragrance, among which "Fragrant Douban" has a pure, crisp fragrance. In 2002 the author obtained a pot of red-lipped "Fragrant Douban" collected in Eshan County, central Yunnan, with a delicate, delightful fragrance, the only one the author had seen in more than twenty years of growing orchids.
Leaf variegation
There are marginal striping, mid-transparent, dawn variegation, swept tail, bird's beak, dwarf varieties, crystal dragon, crystal striping and so on; fortunately, Douban Orchid's leaf variegation is easily carried over to the flowers, and "grasses of the line-variegation and crystal-variegation types have an extremely high rate of producing flowers, and often can produce high-grade multi-colored flowers and crystal flowers. The intensity of their color contrast, the clarity of their boundaries and the smoothness of their changes are beyond the reach of other orchid types." (Bai Hua, "A First Appreciation of Douban Orchid")