How to Select a Top-Grade Clivia by Its Leaves?

Clivia is a very popular flowering plant, and many flower enthusiasts choose to grow it at home. But for many novice growers, selecting a clivia of better quality can be somewhat difficult. In fact, by analyzing the leaves, we can still pick out a top-grade clivia.

Clivia

1. The leaves of a top-grade clivia should be short and wide, with a length between 9 cm and 12 cm, and a length-to-width ratio within 4:1. Some varieties can reach 2:1, or even 1:1, such as the Henglan variety.

2. The tips of the leaves should be round, without a sharp point, and even concave or flat. Leaf color is best in yellow-green or tender green; black-green and gray-green are inferior.

3. The leaf surface should have good gloss, giving a sense of being oily-bright and striking.

4. The veins of the leaves should be prominent and raised, and form a clear color contrast with the leaf surface. The spacing between the veins should be wide, with "tian" (field) and "ri" (sun) patterns being top-grade.

5. The leaves should have a certain thickness, and the thickness in the middle and at the edges should be uniform and consistent. The leaves should be elastic, feeling hard and upright.

6. The spacing between leaves should be even and parallel, without overlapping or pressing on one another. The leaves should be neatly arranged, uniform in size, not crooked or lopsided, with no overgrown leaves, so that "viewed from the front it looks like a fan, and viewed from the side it forms a line."

7. The base of the pseudobulb is best when flat and shaped like a yuanbao (gold ingot); pagoda-shaped and fish-scale-shaped are second best. For striped clivia, the stripes on the leaves are required to be clear and the colors bright.