Characteristics of the Chunlan (Cymbidium goeringii) variety Yu Mei Su
Selected in Shaoxing during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. The leaves are slanted and upright, thick and hard in texture, narrow and slender. The leaf color is dark green with a slight luster. The bud sheaths are red with green markings. The three outer tepals have long feet and round tips, tapering at the base with flat edges, the tepal tips slightly flutter, slightly drooping shoulders. The petals are shallow-cupped, with a pure white ruyi-shaped lip, and a slight red on the cheeks, also known as "red-sheath peach-cheek plum-suberect."
Yu Mei Su C. goeringii-Yu Mei Su
A Chunlan plum-petal variety (selected in Shaoxing during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, with over 300 years of history, it is one of the oldest traditional varieties still in circulation today)
Characteristics: Leaves slender, leaf posture slanted and upright, the marginal leaves semi-drooping, the leaves extremely thick and hard. The leaf color is particularly dark, the new growth has a slightly glossy leaf surface, the leaf groove is V-shaped, the leaf margin serration is fine, the leaf stalk is not tightly constricted, leaf length 20-35 cm, leaves slender, belonging to the narrow slender-leaved form of Chunlan, new shoots purplish-red. The flower scape is short and slender, the sheath and bracts brownish-green, the sepals long ovate, thick and substantial, the petal tips cupped, hard in texture, the lip short and round, pure white.
The flower bud is red, with green markings at the bud tip, the inner bud sheath pale green, without veins. The flower stem is purplish-red, the stem not tall, 6-8 cm, the three outer tepals with long feet and round tips, the tepals fluttering, slightly drooping shoulders. The petals have white edges, short and round, shallow cupped. The lip is a short round ruyi-shaped lip. The lip is white, with a slight red on the cheeks, making it a peach-cheek suberect. This variety is easy to grow and requires little fertilizer. It blooms readily, and its flowering period is often earlier than other Chunlan; in warm winters it often blooms prematurely before spring. When this variety is forming flower buds, a certain humidity should be maintained, otherwise the flower stem will be short and it will bloom early. Never let it dry out. Otherwise its flower stem will be extremely short; after flowering, moisture must be controlled, otherwise the tepals will curl backward, affecting its ornamental value. Yu Mei Su is the only red-sheath suberect variety among traditional Chunlan, and is widely circulated.
"Jiangsu and Zhejiang Orchids" has a different photo with the following caption: Yu Mei Su. According to legend, during the Tianlu period (1688-1704) of the Kangxi era (Qing Dynasty), a jade-green plum-petal suberect flower was selected from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and named "Yu Mei Su." New shoots purplish-red, leaf length 20-28 cm, width 0.8 cm. Leaf color dark green with a slight luster; leaf texture thick, the leaf surface has a "V"-shaped leaf groove, leaf posture slanted and upright. The flower scape is 8-10 cm tall, the flower stalk pale purplish-red, the bract leaves pale purplish-red with green markings. [The three outer tepals have long feet and round tips], tapering at the base, flat edges; the two lateral sepals slightly drooping shoulders, the secondary tepal's round tip concave at the center, with a distinctive bearing. The petals are short and cupped Guanyin petals; the lip is a white ruyi-shaped lip, the lip surface without red markings (hence also called "white-tongued plum"). The lateral lobes of the lip (commonly called the cheeks) have a pink pale red blush, called a "peach-cheek suberect." More precisely: Yu Mei Su belongs to the "red-sheath plum-petal peach-cheek suberect" among traditional Chunlan. With a long history, Yu Mei Su, its purplish-red new shoots are considered special; the lip's cheeks show a red blush, the peach-cheek suberect catches the eye.
