Detailed interpretation of the complete holographic archive of the Chunlan 'Dafugui'

For the Chunlan lotus-petal famous variety Dafugui, orchid enthusiasts are extremely familiar with it and know it all too well. However, since ancient times, wherever there is Li Kui there must be Li Gui, and nowadays there are far, far too many "fake Dafugui" appearing under the name "Dafugui"...

The main text of the Dafugui chapter in "A Brief History of Orchids" says: "Produced in a Shanghai flower cellar in the first year of Xuantong. The three petals are eight fen long and seven fen wide, with extremely fine bases, tightly edged and thick in substance like a coin, short and round held heart, large Liu Hai tongue, red like a yuanbao shape, level shoulders and long stem, color pure green. Ni Jingzhi purchased it and brought it back to Hangzhou, and presented it to Jiufeng Pavilion." A black-and-white photograph is attached, with inscriptions around it reading: "Dafugui. Round lotus. New variety. Produced in a Shanghai flower cellar in the jiyou year of Guangxu in the former Qing dynasty. The three petals are round and short and thick, the edges extremely tight, fan-shaped held heart, the tongue large and vividly red, the flower light pure green, the outer bud sheaths entirely purplish red, a rare variety indeed. The plant had eight or nine growths; Ni Jingzhi purchased only half, and brought it back to present. The remaining plants were obtained by Zheng Tongmei of Shuanglin. On a spring day of the dingsi year, another flower appeared at my place, so I photographed it and recorded its origin. Chunbai treasured and enjoyed it."

In the more pure Dafugui variety, the bud sheaths of the flower are "entirely purplish red," which orchid enthusiasts often call eggplant-skin red or eggplant-skin purple. Flower and leaf share the same origin, so the purplish red of Dafugui is shown not only on the flower bud sheaths but also on the leaf sheaths of the new shoots...

Dafugui leaf posture

Dafugui new shoot

Dafugui early flower bud

Dafugui large flower bud

Dafugui bloom