How rare is a double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii? It turns out you can hardly find one in an entire mountain

Cymbidium goeringii, as everyone knows, mostly bears one flower per stem, but a few can produce two flowers on a single stem, commonly known as "twin lotus". The fragrance of double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii is more delicate than that of ordinary Cymbidium goeringii, and the flower shape is also attractive. Recently it has been sought after by netizen orchid enthusiasts, and everyone wants to obtain a pot of such Cymbidium goeringii through their own cultivation efforts.

Can double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii be obtained through artificial cultivation? Hao She Nong Fu has grown many wild mountain-collected orchids, including double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii. To be honest, he had not paid attention to this special Cymbidium goeringii before, and only discovered the year before last that double-flowered ones actually exist among Cymbidium goeringii. Hao She Nong Fu thought it was due to the mountain aspect or the soil, so he went back to the mountain where he had once found double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii to search again, but regrettably came back empty-handed.

Hao She Nong Fu cultivated his double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii separately and discovered one reason for the double flowers. It is not related to soil or mountain aspect, but to genes. Double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii has different genes, and it is still unclear whether it is a cross between Cymbidium goeringii and Cymbidium faberi (a point raised by some netizens), but what can be confirmed is that double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii does not grow in patches, and often only one plant can be found in an entire mountain.

The photo above shows a double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii that Hao She Nong Fu divided this spring. One old seedling produced two new seedlings, and in early summer this Cymbidium goeringii sprouted an out-of-season flower bud. In order not to affect the growth of its seedlings, since Hao She Nong Fu divided and cultivated these pots of orchids in order to propagate seedlings, he pinched off the flower bud, and when he peeled open the bud he could clearly see that it was also double-flowered.

The gene for double flowers in Cymbidium goeringii can be stable. Now Hao She Nong Fu can say with certainty to orchid enthusiasts that double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii cannot be achieved just by adding fertilizer; it requires a certain gene. Of course, if a double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii is not properly cared for, there is a chance it may end up becoming single-flowered, but a single-flowered one becoming double-flowered through artificial cultivation has never been seen.

Some netizens asked Hao She Nong Fu, if a double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii has not bloomed, how can it be identified? Are there some external characteristics by which one can roughly guess whether it can produce double flowers?

Actually there are still some criteria. Hao She Nong Fu will take some photos and discuss the external characteristics of double-flowered Cymbidium goeringii together with netizens in the next article. Welcome to follow.