Introduction to the Characteristics and Care Essentials of the Cymbidium ensifolium 'Xiahuangmei' Variety
Each plant has 3-5 leaves, leaf length 26-42cm, width 1.4-1.6cm; leaf color emerald green; plant form loose; leaf posture semi-pendulous; lateral veins prominent; leaf surface flat and glossy; fine serrations at the leaf tip obvious; leaf tip has a small short point. The flower scape is upright, height 15-24cm, yellow-green; one scape bears 3-6 flowers, loosely arranged; the sheath at the base of the inflorescence has a yellow-green background color, slightly covered with purplish-red vein lines; the flower bracts are long and broad, similar in color to the flower scape; the sepals (outer three petals) are oblong, narrow at the base, gradually broadening toward the front, widest at the 2/3 point, narrowed at the front end with tightly rolled edges, the tip folded in pairs, the midline portion protruding outward, sepal length 1.6-2.0cm, width 0.7-0.9cm, color yellow-green, leaning yellow; the petals (pollen cap, petal lips) are shorter and smaller than the sepals, standing separately with the lip (tongue) on the three sides of the column (nose tip), and close to the column, the petal base is narrow and long, tightly edged from the middle, the front end rounded and blunt, forming a deep pouch, the front ends of the two petals are widely separated, the top of the column is clearly exposed, the petals are pale yellow, with uniform purplish-red spots on the lower part and the abdomen of the column; the lip is short and round, the front end of the middle lobe slightly drooping, noticeably thickened, the edges slightly rolled inward forming a shallow pouch, the side lobes are not obvious, the lip background color is pale yellow, both sides densely covered with purplish-red lines, and showing through to the outside; flower diameter 1.8-2.2cm. It is a variety that blooms and multiplies readily.
According to Mr. Yang Zeyu, advisor (former vice president) of the Pixian Orchid Association in Sichuan: around 1981 he purchased this species in Pixian; the seller was possibly from the surrounding mountainous area, and it was a large wild-collected plant (6 shoots), which he divided into 3 pots, 2 shoots per pot. A friend saw the flower was beautiful and admired it greatly, so he gave him one pot; later he heard that this friend's pot had long since died. Of the remaining two pots, another one was lost, and the remaining pot, after several years, grew shoots very normally and bloomed abundantly. In 1986, the Sichuan orchid expert Mr. Deng Chengkang spoke highly of this flower and included it in the wall calendar he edited, and thus it gradually spread. The flower was initially called "Xiahemei" (because in the early period the flower was not yet fixed in form, and the outer three petals were lotus-shaped); later the well-known Chengdu orchid expert Mr. Huang Xingyou took a liking to "Xiahemei", began purchasing and cultivating it in batches, and promoted it, and it quickly gained recognition in the orchid community. When Mr. Huang purchased the species, he did not know its exact name; simply because Huang's flower was beautiful, he named it "Xiahuangmei"; later, because there was a Spring Sword "Huangmei", he felt that the character "imperial" had a better meaning than "yellow", carrying the sense of "a superior fine flower", so he changed it to "Xiahuangmei".
