How to Distinguish Orchids from Hui Orchids? A Detailed Explanation of Traditional Identification Methods

    Traditionally, people call the flower spikes that orchids send up (or "push out") "lan" when a single stem bears a single flower, and "hui" when a single stem bears multiple flowers. That is why Chinese orchids are also known as "lan-hui." Huang Tingjian of the Song Dynasty wrote in "Record of the Secluded Fragrance Pavilion": "A single stalk with one flower and lingering fragrance is lan; a single stalk with five to seven flowers and insufficient fragrance is hui." This states that, besides being related to the number of flowers, the distinction between lan and hui also lies in the difference in the strength or faintness of their fragrance.

    According to what is recorded in books and observed in practice: the flower spikes of Cymbidium goeringii (chunlan, spring orchid) can produce both a single flower on one stem and multiple flowers on one stem; while Cymbidium ensifolium (qiulan, autumn orchid) and Cymbidium ensifolium (sijilan, four-season orchid) mostly produce multiple flowers on one stem, though occasionally a single flower on one stem is also seen; other orchids, such as Cymbidium sinense (baosuilan, Chinese cymbidium), Cymbidium kanran (hanlan, cold orchid), and Cymbidium faberi (xiahui, summer hui), produce multiple flowers on one stem, and a single flower on one stem has not yet been seen.