How to appreciate and identify orchids? A complete guide to the essential knowledge
1. What are the specialized terms for appreciating Chinese orchids?
Over the long course of appreciation practices, people created many specialized terms to express appraisal conclusions and appreciation insights. From the whole Chinese orchid down to the very tip of an orchid leaf, even a tiny pale red dot the size of a needle tip on the lip, all have specialized terms to define quality, quantity and grade. These specialized terms can be divided into two major categories: floral art terms and linear art terms. Each major category can be further divided into three types.
Floral art types: standard floral art, variant floral art, colored flowers; linear art types: linear art, dwarf varieties, strange leaves. Each has its own different specialized terms. There are at least more than 150 commonly used specialized terms.
2. What terms are there for appreciating the leaves of Chinese orchids?
The leaves of Chinese orchids are one of the main objects appreciated by orchid lovers. There are many specialized terms for appreciating Chinese orchid leaves. The commonly used terms are listed as follows:
1. Leaf posture: also called leaf stance, referring to the spreading posture of orchid leaves. Such as upright, slanting upright, slanting drooping, semi-drooping, fully drooping, etc.
2. Leaf frame: the spreading height of orchid leaves when slanting upright, slanting drooping or bending down. If the flower blooms above the spreading height it is called emerging above the frame, if equal it is level with the frame, if lower it is not emerging from the frame.
3. Leaf fan: using a fan as a metaphor for orchid leaves; one orchid leaf can be divided into the fan handle, fan ribs and fan surface.
4. Nose dragon: refers to the small triangular area at the top of the orchid leaf tip with the main vein as the center line. When art color appears at the nose dragon area it is called nose dragon opening.
5. Walking dragon: the grooves on the leaf surface on both sides of the main vein of the orchid leaf.
6. False ring: also called leaf stalk ring and leaf stalk mark, referring to the ring-shaped node on the lower part of the leaf stalk. The vein pattern is displaced here, and old leaves fall off at this node after turning yellow and withering. From the height of the false ring above the potting medium surface, one can analyze the cultivation effect and the maturity of the plant.
7. Interstitial silk: refers to short intermittent stripes in the lateral veins of the leaf blade, or appearing and disappearing on the back of the leaf.
8. Armor: also called foot shell, referring to the leaf sheath, divided into upright armor, scattered armor, iron armor and soft armor.
9. Toad skin: refers to the enlargement of cells on the leaf surface, shaped like fine sandcloth, not the transverse wrinkling and folding of the leaf surface.
10. Middle bone: refers to the main vein ridge pattern of the orchid leaf.
11. Dew-bearing leaf: the tip of the leaf blade is spoon-shaped and curves inward, as if it could collect dew.
12. Back silver: refers to the pale pinkish-white line on the back of the leaf as if lightly drawn by chalk. It is commonly seen on linear art plants of Cymbidium sinense, while on narrow-leaved plants such as Cymbidium goeringii, back silver can only be judged by the difference in width between the art color on the leaf surface and the art color on the leaf back.
13. Leaf art: changes appearing on orchid leaves. Such as walking dragon on the leaf surface, wrinkled skin, dwarf variety, rounded leaf tip, etc., all are called leaf art; even special changes such as strange shapes appearing on orchid leaves that become fixed also belong to leaf art.
14. Linear art: yellow or white line patterns or spot patterns appearing on the orchid leaf surface are all called linear art. Linear art is the combination of color lines, spots and leaf art.
15. Early bright: the art color on the leaf surface is already very distinct when the new shoot grows.
16. Late bright: the phenomenon where the art color on the leaf surface is not obvious when the new shoot appears, but becomes more and more distinct as the plant grows, is called late bright.
17. Late dark: the art color on the leaf surface disappears as the plant grows.
18. Ghost: an orchid plant without chlorophyll. If the entire orchid is all yellow or all white and soon withers and dies, it is called a ghost seedling.
19. Top-grade art: linear art that has reached an ideal degree.
20. True art: a linear art variety of orchid that has already shown standard art and has become fixed.
21. Shallow claw: white or yellow edging appearing on both sides of the orchid leaf tip, where the shorter side of white or yellow edging is less than one sixth of the leaf length.
22. Deep claw: white or yellow edging at the leaf tip exceeding one sixth of the leaf length.
23. Dry claw: the claw line extends regularly along the leaf margin, and the vertical line inside the claw is usually shorter than the claw line, with no wet seepage feeling. Dry claw shows no change in art direction in later stages, and is called ten-thousand-year claw.
24. Wet claw: the claw line does not extend down along the leaf margin, and sometimes seeps into the inner side of the leaf margin; the vertical line is longer than the claw line and has a wet seepage feeling. Great changes in art direction in later stages make it a good material in linear art.
25. Cloud well: a green line at the leaf tip extending toward the lower part of the leaf is called cloud well.
26. Tiger spot: leaf art color forming blocks and resembling the stripes on tiger skin.
27. Half-side stripe: one half of the leaf blade has stripe lines.
28. Spot stripe: yellow or white long and short stripes on the leaf blade, some of which merge together, locally forming several long and short lines stuck together into a spot block; this type of linear art is called spot stripe.
29. Transformed crane art: leaf art concentrated at the leaf tip, with a deep and wide section of yellow or white at the leaf tip that undergoes transformation, called crane art. That is: when a new shoot appears the leaf tip is pale green, while the middle of the leaf blade has yellow or white; as the plant grows, the tip transforms to yellow or white, and the yellow or white in the middle of the leaf blade reverses to deep green. This is the highest realm of linear art.
30. Crown art: the same as crane art, but the leaf surface of crown art has walking dragon.
31. Center transparency: art color concentrated in the center of the leaf surface, with the main vein the same color as the art color, and the leaf margin all around having a green edge or dark blue claw. This type of art is the most beautiful.
32. Center transparent stripe: stripes concentrated in the center of the leaf surface, among which one stripe coincides with the main vein of the leaf. There is a very broad and deep green cap around the leaf; this kind of art is always top-grade art.
33. Double rim: namely edging, with yellow and white edge lines all around the leaf margin; for edging art, those with art color going from bottom to top are better.
34. Spot art: yellow or white spot blocks appearing on the leaf surface are called spot art. There are brocade gauze spots, snake skin spots, moss spots, full spots, shimmer spots, dawn spots, sesame spots, etc.
35. Art position: the position where art color appears on the orchid leaf. Such as at the leaf tail, leaf stalk, both sides of the main vein, etc.
36. Art direction: the direction of evolution of linear art on the leaf surface. Such as degeneration, evolution, or development toward a certain kind of art, etc.
37. Art state: the form expressed by linear art. Such as large Shimen tip jade art, namely the art state of the large Shimen variety.
38. Art nature: the nature of orchid leaf art. Such as dry claw being immutable, wet claw having continuous variation. Art nature can also reflect the grade of the art to a certain extent.
39. Crystal: refers to a semi-transparent plastic-film-like substance appearing at the tip or margin of an orchid leaf.
40. Dwarf variety: refers to the dwarf among orchids. Usually determined by the ratio of leaf width to leaf length. Below 1:10 is a dwarf variety, 1:10 to 1:14 is a medium dwarf variety.
3. What terms are there for appreciating the flowers of Chinese orchids?
The flowers of Chinese orchids are the main object of appreciation. The specialized terms for appreciating Chinese orchid flowers are:
1. Head shape: refers to the shape of the flower bud and flower bud. Head shape is a very profound subject and will be described separately in a special topic.
2. Garment shell: refers to the sheath on the orchid flower bud, and is an important part of orchid variety identification.
3. Sheath shell: the bract on the orchid flower bud, also called sheath or small bract. It is one of the important bases for identifying whether the flower quality is good or bad. Mr. Wu Yingxiang also used it as a basis for the classification of Chinese orchids.
4. Outer three petals: namely the sepals of Chinese orchids.
5. Main petal: namely the main sepal, also called the middle sepal.
6. Secondary petals: namely the left and right lateral sepals.
7. Central palace: the collective name for the 3 petals and the column of the orchid.
8. Holding petals: also called holding heart. Namely the 2 petals on the upper inner side of the orchid.
9. Tongue petal: the 1 petal in the exact center of the inner side of the orchid, also called the lip. It is the 1 petal among orchid petals with the greatest variation and the most beauty.
10. Nose head: the column of the orchid, with male and female united in a columnar shape.
11. Node: the place on the flower stalk where the sepals and petals are attached, also called the column foot.
12. Shoulder: refers to the spreading form of the 2 lateral sepals, compared to human shoulders. There are terms such as level shoulder, flying shoulder, falling shoulder, gate-character shoulder, etc., and flower shape quality is appreciated by these.
13. Tight edge: refers to the edges of the 3 sepals curling inward slightly, making the sepals look like soup spoons. Opposite forms include level edge, upturned, fluttering and wrinkled, etc.
14. Embracing: refers to the spreading posture of the orchid. The front ends of the 3 sepals all curve inward in an embracing posture, and the 2 holding petals close on both sides of the column in an embracing shape.
15. Contracted root and released corner: the bases of the 3 sepals contract thin, and the front ends are triangular, namely contracted root and released corner.
16. Phoenix eye: before the orchid bud is about to open, the sepals gather together, and at the base of the flower bud where the sepals overlap there is an eye-shaped gap, euphemistically called phoenix eye; when the eye is large, the sepal roots are thin.
17. Upper and lower overlap: refers to the way the 3 sepals overlap when the orchid has not yet bloomed. If the main sepal covers and overlaps and the lateral sepals overlap below, the flower will definitely have falling shoulders when it blooms; if the lateral sepals embrace and overlap and the main sepal is above, it will definitely not have falling shoulders.
18. Sand cloud: refers to the texture on the orchid bud shell. If quartz-sand-like translucent granular matter is contained within the bud shell, it is sand. Cloud: like smoke and mist, or like powder hair, is cloud. Cloud has white, green, purple and other colors, and sand cloud can be seen but cannot be touched. Sand cloud has differences of lightness and heaviness, coarseness and fineness, but it is difficult to quantify. Only by looking more when appreciating famous varieties can one deepen understanding. 19. Forming a pocket: only refers to the front end and surrounding edges of the holding petals curling inward and bending, shaped like a soup spoon, which is a pocket. However, on the holding petals of compound-color flowers there may also be white or yellow inset color, but this cannot be counted as forming a pocket. Forming a pocket should mean the holding petals have masculinization. There are extremely many forms of pockets.
20. Plum petal: refers to one flower type among Chinese orchids.
21. Narcissus petal: also one flower type among orchids.
22. Lotus: a type of flower variety among orchids shaped like a lotus.
23. Strange flower: only refers to a type of flower among orchids that is out of the ordinary and also has stable characteristics, also called strange variety.
24. Plain heart: usually refers to orchid flowers with no red on them, called plain heart. As people's appreciation of orchids has deepened, the concept of plain heart has changed, such as the appearance of the names red plain, yellow plain and black plain.
25. Colored flower: the flowers of Chinese orchids mainly take green as the main color. Besides green, flowers with red, yellow, white, black and other flower colors are colored flowers among Chinese orchids. Among Chinese orchids there are still no blue flowers to date.
26. Compound-color flower: refers to flowers with inset color on the petals, and the inset color must be the same color on the front and back. Compound-color flowers can be divided into edging, striped flowers, center transparent flowers, etc.
27. Insect: the plum and narcissus floral art of Chinese orchids resembles an insect emerging from its shell when the bud first opens through the bud shell. This name differs from place to place, such as Yixing calling it insect, Wuxi calling it different variety, Changshu calling it clever variety, Zhejiang calling it fine variety, Suzhou calling it fine flower, and Shanghai calling it having jade.
28. Flower quality: also called flower pattern, referring to the format or quality of orchid blooming.
29. Sinew and bone: also called flower keeping, referring to how many days after the orchid blooms the flower shape and flower color can remain unchanged in shape and color.
30. Cap: refers to the spreading form of the main petal, namely the main sepal. If the main sepal covers over the holding petals and looks like a "large cap", it is a cap. Conversely, if the main sepal is upright and upward it is called open upright, and if backward it is called upturned.
31. Skirt edge: as the name suggests, the "lace edge" of a skirt edge; among orchids there are floral arts where sepals or petals are lip-transformed, and top-grade ones will have the lateral lobes of the lip in a "lace edge" shape, which is called skirt edge; the wrinkles of the skirt edge are also called "thorns", and are the basis for identifying varieties.
32. Dots: refers to the red dots on the lip. If it is a stamen butterfly or butterfly, all red dots appearing on lip-transformed parts emphasize finished product, formed shape and symmetry. When appreciating, it is customary to judge whether the dots are finished products by how good the symmetry of the dots is.
33. Releasing foot: the sepals of some orchids gradually elongate as the flower blooms; elongation of the rear part of the sepals is called releasing foot.
34. Emerging above the frame: the flower stalk is higher than the average spreading height of the leaves.
35. Thick head: the front end of the orchid sepal is thicker than the middle and rear part, called thick head.
36. Butterfly: refers to lip transformation appearing on the sepals and holding petals of the orchid.
37. Petal type: the standard for classifying and fixing orchid flower shapes.
38. Standard form: refers to flowers opening in normal form and pattern with no increase or decrease in the number of floral envelopes.
39. Variant form: the number of floral envelopes increases or decreases, and the flower does not bloom according to normal form and pattern.
40. Shaping degree: every orchid flower is circular, and the area occupied by the floral envelope on the circle and the size of the gaps are called shaping degree.
41. Fold: also called fold band; there is a raised triangular fold in the middle of the orchid tongue petal, with fold meaning clothing fold. I publish orchid knowledge and pictures every day, taking you to deeply understand orchids and teaching you to easily grow orchids well. If there is anything you do not understand about orchids, you can ask me at any time or leave a message below. If my knowledge has helped you, I hope you can give me a like or repost to help more people!