How to tell real Dahua Fugui (Large Wealth and Honor) from fake? The simplest method
Yuesha Dahua Fugui is very popular among orchid enthusiasts because of its flowers, so large biotechnology companies have produced a great many hybrids using it as the mother plant, and some of the new hybrids look extremely similar to Dahua Fugui in both flower and leaf shape, making it very hard for many novice orchid growers to tell them apart. Unscrupulous sellers then sell these hybrids (such as Datuanyuan and others)...
Because Dahua Fugui's flowers are very popular among orchid enthusiasts, large biotechnology companies have produced a great many hybrids using it as the mother plant, and some of the new hybrids look extremely similar to Dahua Fugui in both flower and leaf shape, making it very hard for many novice orchid growers to tell them apart. Unscrupulous sellers then sell these hybrids (such as Datuanyuan and others) as Dahua Fugui, which gives many orchid growers a real headache!
So how do you tell the real from the fake? Some say to judge by leaf shape: the one with more graceful, lively leaves is Dahua Fugui. Although leaves like that mean a high chance it is Dahua Fugui, it is not always so, because Dahua Fugui grows different leaf shapes in different environments or under different growing methods, so leaf shape can only serve as one basis of judgment for experienced orchid growers. Some say to judge by the flower bud: a purple bud means it is real. That is also wrong, because some hybrids also have purple buds. So for beginners, the only way is to look at the flower, and the best thing is to buy one in bloom!
Does a double "11" on the lip mean it is Dahua Fugui? Not necessarily! Does a "U" shape on the lip mean it is Dahua Fugui? Not necessarily! Does a contracted base mean it is Dahua Fugui? Not necessarily! So how do you judge from the flower? Based on my many years of experience looking at bloom photos, the most practical way is to look at the tips of the three outer petals: there is an angle (hard to describe here, it is a feeling that the petal is not fully open), and the outward corner is very obvious. Although this method is not necessarily 100 percent accurate, it is indeed the most practical method at present. Below I will use pictures to explain the simplest way to tell real Dahua Fugui from fake:
