The origin of orchids
The orchids that our people love and have cultivated for a long time are mainly "Chinese orchids", namely spring orchids, cymbidiums, and molans.
Molans kind. Most of their flowers are not very showy, but have a light fragrance, suitable for Eastern appreciation
traditions.
Botanically, this type of orchid belongs to a genus of the Orchidaceae family, namely Orchidaceae. There are totally 50 species in this genus, and there are 21 species and some variant species in my country, which are produced in the Yangtze River Basin and the regions south of it. In fact it
occupies only a small part of the orchid family. In the plant world, Orchidaceae is a very peculiar and highly evolved family. There are 700 genera and 25,000 species in the world. Among angiosperms, only Asteraceae can rival it.
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Tied as world champion.
Most members of the Orchidaceae family do not grow on the ground, but grow epiphytically on cliffs and tall branches of giant trees
and are often called tropical orchids. Many tropical orchids have showy flowers, but not all. The so-called
"Chinese orchids are fragrant but colorless, while tropical orchids are colored but fragrant" generally refers to common cultivated species.
In fact, tropical orchids also have "fragrant" And colorless", and vice versa. Our country spans tropical, subtropical and
temperate zones and is rich in orchid plant resources. According to research, there are 158 genera and nearly 1,000 species in the country.
Among them are Shao is a unique treasure of our country.
National Orchid
Chinese orchid is referred to as National Orchid, which usually refers to some terrestrial species of the genus Cymbidium. The pseudobulbs are small, with linear leaves and fleshy roots; the flower stems are upright, with 1 to 10 flowers. The flowers are small and fragrant, usually light green with purple-red spots. The leaf and flower morphology and flowering period vary greatly among different species. Produced in the south and southwest of Qinling Mountains. It has a long history of cultivation, at least more than a thousand years, and is one of China's top ten traditional famous flowers. Since ancient times, people have regarded orchids as a symbol of nobility, elegance, patriotism and perseverance. The orchid culture with strong Chinese national characteristics has been formed. Propagate by division, seeding or tissue culture. Potted plants in humus soil require good ventilation and drainage; they like a semi-shady and humid environment. The overwintering temperature of Molan Jianlan and Hanlan is about 10℃, and the other species are about 5℃.
The origin and history of Guolan
The Chinese orchid known today as Guolan was called Lanhui in ancient times. Just as Huang Tingjian (1045-1105) of the Northern Song Dynasty described orchids in "Youfang Pavilion": "A stem with one flower but more than enough fragrance is an orchid; a stem with five or seven flowers but not enough fragrance is a rhizome."
We Chinese have been appreciating and cultivating orchids much earlier than the orchids cultivated in the West. As early as 2,400 years ago in the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius, the ancestor of Chinese culture, once said: "Orchids grow in deep valleys, and they are not fragrant because there are no people there. A gentleman cultivates morality and does not change his moral character because of poverty." He also called orchids "the fragrance of kings" and this sentence has been passed down to this day, which is enough to prove the status of Chinese orchids in history and culture.
However, there are different views on the description of orchid in Confucius' era. Some people believe that during the Spring and Autumn Period, the Wei State was in northern Henan (today's Huaxian area) and the Lu State was in Shandong. It was impossible for Confucius to see the lush wild orchids on his way from northern Henan to Shandong. Therefore, the Zhilan he refers to actually refers to the herbaceous plant adenophora in the Asteraceae family. But some people hold another view. They believe that Confucius's description of the orchid valley is a very accurate description of the orchid ecological environment at that time. Moreover, the climate at that time was warmer than today. Bamboo still grew in Henan, and orchids must be distributed in mountains where there are bamboos. Therefore, it was not unusual for Confucius to see orchids blooming when he was passing through deep forests and valleys. The orchids he mentioned were actually orchids as they are called today. In ancient times, people mainly collected wild orchids at first. As for artificial cultivation of orchids, they started in the palace. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, orchids were cultivated from the palace to the private gardens of the scholar-bureaucrats, and were used to decorate the gardens and beautify the environment, as described in Cao Zhi's poem "Autumn Orchids Cover Long Slopes". It was not until the Tang Dynasty that the cultivation of orchids developed to be cultivated in general gardens and flower farmers. For example, Li Bai, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote poems such as "The fragrance of orchids is far away in the wind, and the fragrance of orchids flows through the roots." :
The Song Dynasty was the heyday of the history of orchid art in China, and there were many books and descriptions about orchid art. For example, "Erya Wings" written by Luo Yuan of the Song Dynasty has "The leaves of orchids are like sand, and they bloom in the first spring. The flowers are very fragrant, and they are mostly born in the forest. When the breeze passes by, the fragrance reaches outside, so it is called Zhilan. Jiangnan. There is a saying that orchids only bloom in spring, and those in Jingchu and central Fujian bloom again in autumn and summer." The "Jinzhang Orchid Book" written by Zhao Shigeng of the Southern Song Dynasty in 1233 can be said to be the earliest work on orchids preserved in my country and the first monograph on orchids in the world. The book is divided into three volumes and five parts. It briefly describes the morphological characteristics of more than 30 varieties of purple orchids (mainly Molan orchid) and white orchid (i.e. Suxin Jianlan), and discusses the taste of orchids. Following the "Jinzhang Orchid Pu", Wang Guixue wrote the "Wang's Orchid Pu" in 1247, which described more than 30 orchid varieties in detail. In addition, there is also a book "Orchid Species Aofa" in the Song Dynasty. This book mainly describes the cultivation methods, which are divided into seeding method, flower planting method, settling and watering method, watering method, flower planting method and method of removing ants and lice. and miscellaneous methods and other seven parts. As for the book "Must Use the Art of Planting" written by Wu Zan, it also introduces the cultivation of orchids.
In 1256, Chen Jingyi wrote "Quanfang Beizu" with a more detailed description of orchids. The entire book was collected in the Imperial Palace of Japan. In 1979, Japan returned the photocopy to my country. In the Song Dynasty, orchids were used as themes in traditional Chinese paintings, such as "Spring Orchid" painted by Zhao Mengjian, which is considered to be the earliest famous orchid painting in existence and is now collected in the Palace Museum in Beijing.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, orchid art entered a period of prosperity. With the increasing number of orchid varieties and increasing cultivation experience, orchid cultivation has become a popular sight. At this time, there were a large number of books, picture albums, poems and orchid patterns printed on porcelain and certain handicrafts describing orchids, such as Zhang Yingmin's "Luolizhai Orchid Pu" in the Ming Dynasty and Gao Lian's "Eight Notes of Zunsheng" Description of Lan. The book "Compendium of Materia Medica" written by Li Shizhen, a pharmacologist in the Ming Dynasty. There is also a relatively complete discussion of the names, categories and uses of orchids. There were also many monographs on orchids in the Qing Dynasty, such as "Lanhui Tongxin Lu" in 1805, written by Xu from Jiaxing, Zhejiang. He was addicted to orchids, was good at painting orchids, and had rich experience in orchids. The book is divided into two volumes. The first volume describes the knowledge of orchid planting, and the second volume describes the identification and classification methods of orchid varieties. The book records 57 varieties and is accompanied by line drawings drawn by him. Others include Yuan Shijun's "A Brief Description of Lan Yan", Du Wenlan's "Four Essays on Lan Yi", Mao Xiang's "Lan Yan", Zhu Kerou's "Notes on the First Incense", Tu Yongning's "Lan Hui Mirror", Zhang Guangzhao's "Xing Lan" "Orchid Genealogy", Yue Liang's "Orchid Cultivating Theory", Wang Hao's "Guangqun Fang Pu", Wu Qijun's "Illustrated Research on Plant Names and Facts", Ou Jince's "Linghai Orchid Words" in the late Qing Dynasty, etc., still have certain influence to this day. reference value.
Yilan has developed into modern times, with "A Brief History of Lanhui" published in 1923, written by Wu Enyuan, a native of Hangxian County, Zhejiang. Based on "Lanhui Tongxinlu", he gave a comprehensive introduction to the orchid varieties and cultivation methods at that time in three volumes. The whole book described 161 famous orchid flowers in Zhejiang, and was accompanied by many photos and illustrations. The pictures and texts are rich and fascinating. In addition, "How to Plant Orchids" written by Xia Zhibin in 1930; "Orchid" co-edited by Hangzhou Yao Yumiao and Zhu Youren in 1950; "Orchid Hui of Sichuan" written by Chengdu Garden Bureau in 1963; "Xiamen Orchid" compiled by Yan Chujiang of Fujian in 1964; "Orchid" written by Wu Yingxiang in 1980 and "Chinese Orchid" written in 1991, as well as books introducing orchids published in Hong Kong and Taiwan and magazines, etc., can be said to be a major achievement in the study of modern Chinese orchid.
Yilan originated in China and spread to Japan and North Korea. Today, Japan is very interested in Chinese orchids, and its historical origins also started in China. Nowadays, Japan's orchid cultivation has established its own system and has developed into a base known as "Orchid Orchid". As for North Korea, orchid has also become an essential thing that the North Korean people admire, and orchids have become an elegant flower for the North Korean people today, displayed in their bedrooms, apartments, and lobbies. What is even more praiseworthy is that they give orchids as a high-end gift.
Man is the spirit of all things. Orchid is the flower of all flowers. I hope orchid will naturally enter the world of people's hearts, and together we will carry forward orchid art, the traditional quintessence of the Chinese nation, make friends with orchids, and make progress together.
Orchid
Orchid---the most fragrant in the world
Scientific name: Cymbidium spp.
English name: Cymbidium
< p>Alias: OrchidaceaeFamily name: Orchidaceae
Morphological characteristics: perennial herb. The roots are fleshy and hypertrophic, without root hairs, and have bacterial growth. It has pseudobulbs, and the reed heads are covered with leaf sheaths. Often multiple pseudobulbs are connected together and exist in rows at the same time. The leaves are linear or sword-shaped, leathery, upright or drooping, the flowers are solitary or in racemes, and there are many bracts on the pedicels. The flowers are bisexual and fragrant. The corolla consists of 3 sepals, 3 petals and stamens. The middle one of the sepals is called the main valve. The lower 2 are the secondary lobes, and the extension of the secondary lobes is known. The upper two petals are upright, fleshy and thick, with the apex curled inward, commonly known as holding. The lower one is the labium, which is larger and is commonly known as Lansun. It is brown when mature and the seeds are fine and powdery.
Chunlan and Cymbidium are divided into plum petals, narcissus petals, lotus petals, butterfly petals, odd species and plain hearts according to the different changes in the shape and texture of their main petals, secondary petals, cup and lips. . The plum petals have short and round sepals, thick flesh, slightly curved inward, and a narrow base. The petals are fleshy and fleshy, and the tips are curved inwards into pockets. The lips are short and hard, and they are slightly upward when the flowers first bloom. The famous species include Song Mei and Xishen. Plum and other varieties. The sepals of Narcissus petals are slightly longer than the plum petals, and the apex is tapered. The texture of the holding petals is thick, the apex is also pocketed, and the lip valve is slightly drooping or recurved. The famous species include Wangzi, Cuiyipin, etc. The tea petals have wide sepals, thick texture, narrow base, wide and pointed apex, and the petals are not pocket-shaped. The lips are moist and slightly recurved. Famous species include Dafugui, Cuigaihua, etc. Butterfly petals are the inner sides of the two sepals pointing downward. The texture becomes thicker, wavy and crepey, and has red spots. Sometimes the number of entire sepals or petals suddenly increases (like green clouds, the corolla is often about 8), or the shape of a flower There are special changes. The plain heart is the same color as the perianth, flower stems and bracts, pure green, yellow-green, etc., no variegated green, yellow-green, etc., no variegated markings, rare varieties include Zhang Hesu, Laowentuan Su, etc.
Orchid likes shade, avoids direct sunlight, likes moisture, avoids dryness, and likes fertile, humus-rich, well-drained, slightly acidic sandy loam, and an environment with good air circulation.
There are more than 750 genera and more than 35,000 species in the Orchidaceae family, and there are more than 70 species in the genus Orchid. Commonly cultivated species in my country are:
Chunlan (C.goeringii): also known as grass orchid, mountain orchid, and Duoduoxiang. 1-2 flowers per stem, fragrant. The flowering period is from February to March. Mainly distributed in the Yangtze River Basin and southwest China. Traditional and valuable varieties include Song Mei, Longzi, etc. The variant C.georingii var.serratum has thin leaves, dark green flowers, and no or light fragrance.
Cymbidium (C.faberi): also known as Jiuzilan and Xialan. There are many flowers on one stem, often 6-12, fragrant. The flowering period is from March to May. The distribution area is similar to Chunlan. Traditional famous varieties include Shanghai plum, Jiepeimei, Jin'aosu, etc.
Variants include C. faberi var. szechuanicum, commonly known as C. faberi var. szechuanicum. The leaves are often arranged in two rows and the flowering period is from July to September. It is mainly distributed in Fujian, Guangdong and other places. Variations include C.ensifolium var.susin, including the valuable Golden Horsetail, Yushen Dagong, Longyansu, Dafenweisu, Guanyinsu, Changtingsu, etc.