Orchids were once the world's most expensive plants, beautiful in both flower and leaf, and now affordably priced, they are well worth owning
Introduction
Green plants and potted flowers are essential decorative elements of home life; they beautify the room, freshen the air, and delight the mind and nurture the spirit. Keeping some flowers and plants at home has many benefits. "Flower Voice Potted Plant Diary, Issue 954" introduces you to a very worthwhile orchid to acquire.
Today's Featured Plant
Orchids are elegant and refined, simple and beautiful, and have long been highly esteemed by our people; from ancient times to the present there have been countless orchid lovers, and the prices of some famous varieties have risen accordingly. The orchid introduced today is called Dharmalan (Cymbidium sinense 'Damo'), the king among artistic orchids, praised as "gathering all the essence of the Chinese Cymbidium in one body, a national-treasure-level roly-poly toy." It once sold for over 20 million Taiwan dollars (about 6 to 7 million yuan) per pot, earning it the title of the world's most expensive plant.
Damo Crown
However, the glorious history of Dharmalan did not last very long. As the orchid market returned to rationality, the once sky-high-priced orchid grass long ago became an ordinary plant for the masses; today, most orchids of the Damo series can be bought for just a few dozen yuan. This is the normal market. To put it plainly, an orchid is just grass; as long as you like it, it has value, and there is absolutely no need to hype it into a sky-high price, wasting money and effort.
Damo Claw blooming
But then again, orchids of the Damo series do indeed have very high ornamental value. The plants are short, round and compact, and the orchid leaves are broad, thick and sturdy, gathering all the essence of the Chinese Cymbidium in one body. Dharmalan is uniquely blessed with superior conditions: material, quality, form, artistry and variation, lacking in none, truly the finest among orchids that everyone in the orchid community pursues. The artistic traits already achieved include: green-cyan cap, claw artistry, mottled stripe, central mottled artistry, central transparency, claw mottled stripe, grand crown artistry, crane artistry, tip mottling, and more. The fragrance is abundant, with the sweet scent unique to the Chinese Cymbidium; especially at noon on a sunny day, with one pot in the room, the whole hall is filled with fragrance.
Golden Crane Damo
Damo has abundant variant varieties, fully encompassing all the leaf-artistry types of Chinese orchids, and can almost develop as a lineage of its own. Among them, the dwarf Golden Crane Damo is outstanding: its flowers are bright red, the petals bear dark red stripes, the lip is large and curled, the leaves have golden edges, both flowers and leaves are beautiful, and the fragrance is rich. It blooms from December to April, just in time for our country's traditional Spring Festival, making it a very popular choice for New Year festive flowers.
One plant can scent a whole room
Dharmalan originates from Taiwan, China, and people like to call it the "fortune flower." Its posture is beautiful, and its leaf artistry shines like a sky full of stars, leaving people awestruck. Although its value cannot compare with former days, it is still the finest that orchid enthusiasts pursue. Beginners are advised to grow the dwarf Golden Crane Damo; it is easy to cultivate, has brilliant flower colors, and is cheap, making it very worth acquiring.