Does a Cymbidium goeringii smell fragrant or not? Can a small feature on the leaf tell you? Actually, it is not reliable at all.

Does a Cymbidium goeringii smell fragrant or not? Can a small feature on the leaf tell you? How many times have you been fooled by the internet?

When Haoshe Nongfu was talking with an orchid friend, the friend told me: according to knowledge on the internet, if a Cymbidium goeringii has no leaf stalk ring, it is a fragrance-free Douban orchid. Haoshe Nongfu had never heard of this leaf stalk ring thing before, so I went to the orchid shed and searched and searched, and finally I found a few pots.

The spot pointed to by the arrow in the picture is the leaf stalk ring of Cymbidium goeringii; it is about ten centimeters above the pseudobulb and is a horizontal line like a bamboo node, with an obvious raised feel when you touch it with your hand. The first time Haoshe Nongfu heard of the leaf stalk ring, I was very curious, so I searched all over the orchid shed.

There is also a claim on the internet that the difference between Cymbidium goeringii and Cymbidium faberi is the leaf stalk ring. Those with a ring are Cymbidium goeringii, and those without a ring are Cymbidium faberi. Haoshe Nongfu only learned all this after checking online; surprisingly, some people even rely on this small node to distinguish Cymbidium goeringii from Cymbidium faberi.

Haoshe Nongfu is a person who likes to get to the bottom of things, and I always like to study new things thoroughly. First, whether an orchid is fragrant depends on the variety, and even more on the region. Among the orchids in Haoshe Nongfu's hometown, whether Cymbidium goeringii or Cymbidium faberi, no fragrance-free ones have been found so far. When Haoshe Nongfu was looking for leaf stalk rings today, at least half of the Cymbidium goeringii also had no leaf stalk ring. So: relying on whether there is a leaf stalk ring to judge whether a Cymbidium goeringii variety is fragrant or not is really unreliable!!

As for distinguishing Cymbidium goeringii from Cymbidium faberi, Haoshe Nongfu has written articles before; we all distinguish them by the softness or hardness of the serrations on the leaf edges, the clarity of the leaf veins, the size of the pseudobulbs, and the thickness and length of the orchid roots. If you use the leaf stalk ring to distinguish Cymbidium goeringii from Cymbidium faberi, it can be said that there is not even 50% accuracy.

The leaf stalk ring generally grows on old Cymbidium goeringii shoots; no leaf stalk ring has been found on the new shoots of the current year. Haoshe Nongfu observed the leaf stalk rings of more than ten pots of Cymbidium goeringii and found that this ring may have some relationship with the flower height of the orchid: those with a low ring tend to produce dwarf varieties, and orchids with a high ring tend to hold their flowers above the leaves. In fact, it has absolutely no relationship with whether the orchid is fragrant or whether it is Cymbidium faberi.

So: what the internet knows cannot be fully trusted. Sometimes it very easily leads you into misunderstandings you should not rush into; you need to be careful when reading articles online, and do not mistakenly believe rumors.

Friends, do all the Cymbidium goeringii in your hands have leaf stalk rings?