Lianban Orchid premium variety Khan Blood Horse, a high cost-performance choice

Khan Blood Horse leaf butterfly photographed by Li Anming; Khan Blood Horse photographed by Yang Zhengchun

Khan Blood Horse, three-star butterfly, leaf butterfly,LianbanOrchid and Douban Orchid natural hybrid, plant height40CMor so, leaf length 30—40CM, width 0.5—0.8CM, around 8 leaves; leaf texture is rather thick, grooves are rather deep, leaf tips curved, among them two or three central leaves will show butterfly transformation, the green leaf surface is patterned with white and red butterfly patches, extremely eye-catching. Each scape bears 2—3 flowers, flowers large, tepals thick, green; the lip is arranged in a triangular formation, a standard three-star butterfly, with huge red patches on the lip. Some orchid growers like to bag this variety during bud formation and spike emergence, and the flowers then open in a deep yellow color with a glutinous texture, offering a distinctive flavor.

In addition, Douban Orchid generally has no fragrance, but if crossed with otherorchidsthe hybrids mostly do have fragrance; because Khan Blood Horse is a natural hybrid of Douban and Lianban, it also has fragrance, which raises its appreciation grade.

This variety was registered on June 31, 2006 byMr. Li Yinglong.

This variety is mainly currently cultivated in Xiaguan, Heqing, Yunlong, Kunming, Yuxi and other places within Yunnan Province, and has been introduced by orchid growers in Sichuan, Guangdong, Taiwan and other places.

It was discovered in 2002 in an ancient town called Jiuzhou in Yunlong County, Dali Prefecture, Yunnan. In the second year of Yuanfeng of the Western Han Dynasty (109 BC), Yunlong was established as a county, with the county seat set at that location, and for the following 1738 years it was the political, economic and cultural center of Yunlong; located in the Lancang River gorge area of the Hengduan Mountains in western Yunnan, only one mountain away from another great river of Yunnan, the Nujiang, it was anciently called “two mountains flanking one river”; the sharply rising and falling terrain, Yunnan's unique three-dimensional climate, and the rich underground mineral deposits have created abundant orchid resources, and many famous fine varieties among Yunnan orchids come from this place, such as Pink Lotus, Bilong Red Plain, Taoyuan Butterfly, Hushan Jade Plum, Cangshan Wonder Butterfly and others, for which it is praised as the “Hometown of Famous Chinese Lianban Orchids”.

This flower was discovered in 2002 by Jiuzhou orchidgrower Ma Weilin, introduced in 2004 by orchidgrower Peng Mushunof Yongping County, Dali, and named by people in the circle; because of its high grade and resemblance in form, orchidgrower Cao Jianhuanamed it “Khan Blood Horse”. Some articles also call it “Han Blood Horse”, and “Han” should be an error for “Khan”. “Khan Blood Horse” originally refers to a type of horse, originating in northern Eurasia, with good stamina and endurance, a long-distance riding horse, and also a horse for jumping and dressage, reputed to “travel a thousand li in a day”. Since the Han Dynasty, the myth of the Western Regions' Khan Blood Horse has been passed down. Legend says the blood flowing from its neck is blood-colored; historically it was called the Khan Blood Horse, the fine horse of Dayuan, the Heavenly Horse. It is said that to obtain it, Emperor Wu of Han twice sent troops to campaign in the Western Regions. The Khan Blood Horse is regarded by Turkmenistan people as a national treasure, and has been given many times as a state gift to other countries. For example, when the President of Turkmenistan visited China, he presented a Khan Blood Horse to President Hu Jintao.

In the past two or three years, as everyone's understanding of the relationship between leaf butterflies and star butterflies has deepened, quite a number of orchid growers have realized that among orchid varieties such as Lianban Orchid, Douban Orchid,Chunlan, Chunjian,Four SeasonsOrchidand others, many leaf butterflies can produce star butterfly flowers (such as Peach Garden Three Sworn Brothers, Jade Rabbit, Great Phoenix, Shengxiang Butterfly, Liang Zhu and others), adding appreciation points for them; for this reason, leaf butterflies have received unprecedented pursuit, and the market outlook is relatively promising. In addition, as orchids become more and more commercialized, thetrade of hybridflowers and their circulation become more and more frequent; if it is not during the flowering period, the authenticity of the variety after sale is also a difficult problem troubling both sides of orchid transactions. For this reason, orchid varieties with leaf butterflies, because of this “anti-counterfeiting trademark”, are also conducive to bold and worry-free trading of the variety even outside the flowering period, so orchid varieties with leaf butterflies are favored in the market, and Khan Blood Horse also benefited from this,

In 2007 this variety was traded relatively frequently, with prices fluctuating around 100,000 yuan per seedling, and rose mildly at the end of the year and in early 2008, roughly 8—180,000 yuan per seedling (the price level is determined according to the condition of the seedling and whether it has small shoots). In early 2008 this variety made a high-profile appearance at several influential orchid exhibitions in Yunnan (such asFebruary 19at the China Dali International Orchid Expo it won the Special Gold Award, and on January 26 at the Second Orchid Exhibition of Spring City Orchid Capital it also won an award.

Up to now the number of this variety is about 1,000 seedlings, and in recent years it has shown a seller's market. Due to the influence of this round of orchid market adjustment, buyers are mostly rather cautious when introducing varieties——although they admire it, they do not excessively chase high prices, so this variety has not seen the crazy rise of the past few years in which, as long as it was a seller's market, the price changed every day.

Because of its relatively good flower form, strong stability, relatively high seedling production rate, easy identification, relatively strong disease resistance and many other advantages, and because its price has remained relatively gentle in recent years, it has been evaluated by some senior orchid growers in Dali as an investment variety with relatively high current “cost performance”.

A little anecdote: according to an article byMr. Lu Xiaohuaand Mr. Ma Zhihong: “In early March 2006, ‘Khan Blood Horse’ almost simultaneously produced standard yellow-flowered three-star butterflies in the hands of three different cultivators, letting many people see the real side behind its mystery, and also breaking the rumor that ‘Khan Blood Horse is Douban Orchid, not fragrant!’. At the end of March, orchid exhibitions in various places had basically ended, but it happened to coincide with the Weixi Orchid Festival; after the judging ended, the ‘Khan Blood Horse’ that arrived there still moved Mr. Pan Guanghua, who suggested to the organizing committee: add a special gold award, and do not bury a truly good flower! Having met a true Bo Le who recognized ‘horses’ and loved ‘horses’, ‘Khan Blood Horse’ added another legend to the orchid world. One old plant that won the special gold award was bought by a Kunming orchid grower for the high price of 470,000 before it had even received its medal (the medal was to be made later), creating another legend!”

Source: Yuxi Orchid Network  Author: Li Lin Images/Li Anming, Yang Zhengchun