Introduction to Jianyangdie, the first lateral-petal butterfly variety of Lianban Orchid

When talking aboutLianbanorchids, Jianyangdie is one of the first important varieties to be mentioned, because it is one of the orchid varieties that rose to fame earliest in contemporary Yunnan, has the greatest reputation, was registered earliest, brought relatively good economic returns to the broad community of Yunnan orchid growers, and allowed quite a few people to strike their first pot of gold in the orchid market;orchidit is also one of the most popular and most traded varieties among YunnanLianbanorchids today. For example, at the 4th China (Yuxi)OrchidTrade Fair held from January 18 to 21, 2008, a total of 123 transactions were concluded in the hall, of which Jianyangdie accounted for 22, or 17.9% of the total, making it the variety with the largest number of transactions among all exhibitedorchids.

A Baidu search for Jianyangdie returns 146,000 results; a Google search returns 183,000 results. One can imagine how much attention it receives.

Jianyangdie is a lateral-petal butterfly of Lianban Orchid, with a plant height of 30-50CMor so, a leaf width of 0.6-1.0CMor so, a leaf cross-section in a shallow V shape, deep grooves in the middle and lower parts of the leaf, a flat upper part, fairly obvious veins on the leaf surface, arched and curved, relatively thick and hard, light green in color; when young shoots first emerge from the soil they are purplish red, sparsely covered with purplish red sandy flecks, and the shoot tips have semi-transparent purplish red crystal tips.

It blooms in late winter and early spring, the flowers rise above the leaves, multiple flower forms, with 2-3 flowers per scape; the petals and sepals are short, round, broad and thick, and nearly half of the lateral petals are butterfly-transformed, with bright red patches on a pinkish white ground, bearing red halos and irregular red dots and red streaks, with striking color contrast and stable flower shape and color.

Discovered in 1988 on the Jianchuan side of Laojun Mountain at the border of Jianchuan County in Dali, Lijiang, Lanping County in Nujiang Prefecture, and Weixi County in Diqing Prefecture, at an altitude of4247M, as a clump of several shoots, collected in the early period by an orchid lover from Shaxi in Jianchuan. Seeing the peculiar petals, the flower's owner specially made a steel-bar cage to plant and protect it. Later it was bought out at a high price in one lump sum by localorchid-growingexpert Li Jian, one of the persons in charge of the Jianchuan County Orchid Association, who cultivated and developed it, identified it as a lateral-petal butterfly of Lianban Orchid, named it Jianyangdie, and developed it through domestic cultivation.

One account says its name comes from the selector and developerLi Jianwhose orchid garden was named Jianyang Orchid Garden.

Another account says this variety was named after the meaning of Jianchuan's famous "Eight Scenes of Jianyang" - Zhao Fan, a native of Jianchuan, was a famous calligrapher and scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, and he named the eight scenes of the sunny side of his hometown Jianchuan as: Huading Chaoyang, Dongling Xihui, Sangling Gumu, Yulong Duixue, Shibao Lingquan, Jiaobian Mudi, Haimian Yudeng, Haimen Qiu; from then on Jianchuan was also called Jianyang.

This variety first appeared at the 4th China Orchid Expo and immediately won a gold award, attracting the attention of the orchid world; at the 5th China (Kunming) Orchid Expo it won a gold medal again; after the 7th China (Beihai) Orchid Expo it became generally known in the orchid world, and since then it has won high-level awards at orchid expos of all levels and types in successive years, becoming the number one brand among standard-form Lianban butterfly flowers, and to this day its position cannot be shaken by any other standard-form Lianban butterfly flower.

The identification of this variety mainly depends on the following aspects: first, the offset veins at the leaf tip; second, the dragon-like ridging on one side of the leaf blade; third, the groove on one side of the leaf surface and the different serrations on the two sides, etc.; but these are not absolute, as some with very obvious characteristics are not necessarily Jianyangdie, while some whose characteristics are not necessarily obvious are still genuine Jianyangdie.

    In addition, it is reported that a "leaf butterfly" phenomenon has also been found in this variety, and in numbers as many as three hundred shoots. For example, in 2007 at the 2nd Summer Orchid Exhibition of Dali Prefecture, a pot of Jianyangdie submitted by Li Yinglong had leaf butterflies, and other orchid growers have also occasionally found such a phenomenon. However, the author has so far never seen it with his own eyes.

This variety grows vigorously, has strong stress resistance, is less prone to disease, is easy to grow, and tolerates fertilizer and light.

This variety has a relatively high shoot production rate; under normal cultivation the annual shoot production rate generally reaches more than 200%, and if cultivation and division are done properly, the shoot production rate is even higher; for example, the old plant with 1 shoot and two emerging buds that the author introduced in 2004 has so far sold more than twenty shoots, with several shoots still remaining. During the National Day holiday in 2005, the author and several friends went to Dali and bought a pot of Jianyangdie from a well-known orchid grower, 8 shoots in total,later hiswife told us that this was purchased in August of the previous year, when it was 1 shoot. Of course, not every Jianyangdie has such an exaggerated shoot production rate, but its shoot production rate is indeed relatively high.

This variety has few roots, but they are thick and strong; that new shoots grow to a height of15CMor so before growing roots is one of its major characteristics;

This variety has a relatively high reblooming rate, is easy to flower, and has stable traits, with stable flower appearance and flower quality.

Because of the various advantages mentioned above, this variety is widely loved by Yunnan orchid growers, and quite a few orchid growers outside the province in Sichuan, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Taiwan, China and other places have also introduced it.

Some orchid growers believe that "at the 4th China Orchid Expo in 1994, Jianyangdie rose to fame at a single stroke and became the most brilliant 'flower queen' at the orchid exhibition; more importantly, Jianyangdie brought confidence to Yunnan orchid growers, and to some extent it can be said that Jianyangdie promoted a further understanding of Yunnan orchids among orchid enthusiasts nationwide. Thereafter, Yunnan orchid enthusiasts actively participated in national orchid exhibitions with full confidence, and this is not unrelated to it."

Some Yunnan orchid growers also believe that this variety is second to none in the dignity of its flower appearance, the frequency of its flowering, the stability of its traits, and the strength of its stress resistance, so it has the fine name of "the first lateral-petal butterfly of Lianban Orchid," and has become a nationwide orchid brand and a major brand among lateral-petal butterfly Chinese orchids.

This variety is one of the earlier registered Yunnan orchid varieties, and wasregistered on December 30, 1993, with Li Jian as the registrant.

On September 20, 2006, the executive meeting of the Jianchuan County People's Government agreed to designate Jianyangdie as the county flower of Jianchuan County.

At its highest price this variety reached nearly eighty thousand yuan or so per shoot, fell back in early 2004 to around 0.5-10 thousand yuan per shoot, began to rise in the second half of 2004, was around 1-20 thousand yuan per shoot in 2005-2006, and the recent price is generally around eight hundred to one thousand yuan per shoot, with those bearing young shoots or large strong shoots priced somewhat higher.

January 29, 2008at Tianxiang Garden

Correspondence: Li Lin, Culture Bureau of Hongta District, No. 38 Dongfeng Middle Road, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province  Postcode 653100  Tel 13887751616