A detailed guide to orchid variety identification methods, teaching you how to identify orchids
There are many varieties of orchids. Different orchids have different forms and thus different qualities. Commonly cultivated orchids in China include Cymbidium goeringii (spring orchid), Cymbidium faberi (Faber's cymbidium), Cymbidium ensifolium (sword-leaf cymbidium), Cymbidium sinense (Chinese cymbidium), and Cymbidium kanran (cold orchid). Here is a brief introduction to orchid varieties.
Classification of orchid varieties
1. Cymbidium goeringii (spring orchid): roots fleshy, white. Leaves narrowly linear, about 20 cm to 25 cm long, with fine sharp serrations along the edges and prominent veins. Each stem bears 1 to 2 flowers, yellow-green, with a delicate fragrance. Blooms in early spring from February to March. There are many varieties, usually classified by petal shape into plum-petal, narcissus-petal, lotus-petal, butterfly-petal, and plain-heart-petal types. Precious varieties include Xiaoda Mei, Song Mei, Lvyun, Wang Zi, and Zhengtong He.
2. Cymbidium faberi (Faber's cymbidium): roots fleshy, pale yellow; leaves linear, more upright and thicker and longer than those of the spring orchid, with rough leaf margins. One stem bears 5 to 13 flowers, pale yellow, with a greenish-white lip bearing red-purple spots. The flowers are very fragrant, blooming from April—May. Precious varieties include Cheng Mei, Songchun, Dang Zi, and Longchang Su.
3. Cymbidium ensifolium (sword-leaf cymbidium): leaves broadly linear, 30 cm to 60 cm long, mostly upright, with smooth leaf margins. One stem bears 6 to 12 flowers. Flowers yellow-green to pale yellow-brown, with dark purple stripes. The fragrance is very strong, blooming from July to September. Precious varieties include Shisan Taibao, Longyan Suxin, Tiegou Su, and Yinbian Dagong.
4. Cymbidium sinense (Chinese cymbidium): leaves 50 cm to 100 cm long and up to 3 cm wide, smooth, with pointed tips, upright in habit. The flower stem is about 60 cm tall, and one stem bears 5 to 10 flowers, with petals mostly bearing purple-brown stripes. Blooms from winter to early spring, with a fragrance. Precious varieties include Lvmo, Baimo, Yingwu Mo, and Huizhou Mo.
5. Cymbidium kanran (cold orchid): leaves narrow and upright. The flower stem is slender and upright, bearing 5 to 9 flowers. Flowers small, with narrow petals, in colors such as yellow, white, blue-green, red, and purple, with a delicate fragrance. Blooms from late autumn to early spring. Precious varieties include Yinling, Cuiyu, Ziyun, and Liming.
Identification of orchid varieties
1. Leaf shape: In the flowerless season, the main basis for identifying famous orchid varieties is leaf shape, including leaf buds and plant form. The color of orchid buds when they emerge from the soil has a certain reference value for appreciating orchid varieties, and the bud stage requires careful observation. Generally speaking, if the new buds are white, white-green, or green, spring orchids are usually plain-heart varieties, and Faber's cymbidiums are mostly plain-heart or green Faber's cymbidiums. If the bud tips have a white rice-grain-like “white peak,” they may produce fine flowers. Traditional famous orchid varieties are mostly relatively stable, and their leaf shapes also show a certain regularity. Through long-term practice, orchid growers can generally identify a variety by eye if its leaf shape features are obvious, such as the upright-leaf Wang Zi, Taisu, and Lao Jipin, the arched-drooping-leaf Song Mei and Da Yipin, and the thick arched-leaf Da Fugui and twisted-leaf Lvyun. However, because orchids are grown in different environments, their leaves are not the same year after year, so orchid growers often also examine the flower buds together with the leaves to identify varieties.
2. Flower buds: Traditional famous orchid varieties not only have their own leaf shape characteristics, but their flower buds are also distinctive. Therefore, when identifying them, people must look at both leaf shape and flower buds. Regarding the identification of flower buds, predecessors summarized the “nine shapes and eight forms” of cymbidium bud heads and the “five gates and eight forms” of Faber's cymbidium small bud clusters.
3. Bloom quality: The most direct and effective way to identify cymbidium and Faber's cymbidium varieties is to look at their bloom quality, which is also the main reason why introduced varieties should be introduced when in flower. Generally speaking, as long as the bloom quality is up to standard, the variety can be identified once the flower is seen.
Identification of orchid quality
1. Identifying orchid quality from petal shape: First, the petal claws have hard points and are fleshy. Second, the front ends of the main petal and side petals are rounded and cupped. Third, the lip petal spreads straight and does not curl or curls only slightly. For lotus-type petal orchids, the main appreciation point is that the middle and front parts of the petals widen and have tightly edged cupping, shaped like lotus rhizome petals.
2. Identifying orchid quality from color: Orchid colors are rich and varied. But a good orchid color highlights one main color that is clearly distinguished from the other colors, and among these, main colors of red, yellow, and white are relatively high-grade. Among reds, brilliant red, water red, and pink are especially good. Among yellows, chicken-fat yellow or cauliflower yellow are the best. Among whites, soft white with elegant petal vein lines is the best.
3. Identifying orchid quality from the degree of plainness and purity: A good orchid should be free of miscellaneous spots. In nature, orchids that bloom with mixed-color flowers are more common, while plain orchids are especially rare. The traditional famous orchid varieties of Yunnan, Da Xuesu and Xiao Xuesu, are rare varieties among plain orchids. There are also plain-flower varieties of Cymbidium lianpan unique to western Yunnan, pure white like mutton-fat jade, with a clear and far-reaching fragrance, making them especially high-grade among pure plain orchids.
4. Identifying orchid quality from fragrance: When buying orchids, whether they are high-grade depends on one prerequisite above all, namely whether the flowers are fragrant when they bloom. Orchids are the king of fragrances, the finest fragrance under heaven, and the ancestor of fragrance, but some varieties bloom without containing fragrance. If you buy an orchid with fragrance, you have bought the “king fragrance,” the “finest fragrance,” and the “ancestor of fragrance,” which means you have bought a high-grade orchid.