Some people seem to think either Walter Winchell or Nero Wolfe invented orchids. It isn't true. The Chinese have been growing them for 2,300 years of recorded history and still are. If it is so — as sometimes maintained — that cultivation of flowers is an accurate measure of a people's cultural level, then China must rank high. The Chinese have loved, cultivated, and written of flowers as long as records have been kept. The national symbol of the Republic of China is plum, a kind of flower blooming in late winter or early spring. On Taiwan both professionals and amateurs are growing chrysanthemums, roses, azaleas, and many other flowers. But the richly varied orchid is the best known and the most valuable. The subtropical climate makes Taiwan an ideal place for orchid cultivation.
The Chinese admire orchids. They also respect them. The perennial herbs are considered sacred and unique. For thousands of years, orchids have been known as the Queen of Flowers. Sometimes, too, the blooms are described as ladies or gentlemen. These concepts prevail not only among horticulturists but also among the people. Consequently, the public also respects and admires those who cultivate orchids.
In former times, the orchids of China grew wild in mountains and forests. Now, these lovely plants arc deliberately and painstakingly cultivated, pampered, and crossed to produce exotic varieties.
2000 Species
Taiwan, which has neither freezing cold (except in the high mountains) in the winter nor scorching heat in summer, grows more than 2,000, species, of orchids of 24 genera. The most popular are Cattleya, Phalaenopsis, Yanda, Dendrobium, Nobile, Phalaenopsis type, and Cymbidium. Of the Cymbidium (Best Asian orchids), some are from the Chinese mainland, including Cym. Sosin Var. Kwan Non, Cym. Sosin Var, Tekotsu, Cym. Hoosai' Kanton Form, and Cym. Ensifolium. Such others as Cym. Akamesosin and Cym. Pumilum are native to Taiwan.
Heroine of Central Motion Picture feature "Orchids and My Love" is helped to recover from polio by her love of orchid cultivation. (File photo)
Of the Phalaenopsis or butterfly orchids, Taiwan originally produced only the species Amabilis. Other varieties were imported. The island now has almost all the butterfly orchids. New varieties are coming from crosses. While most Asian countries have only red butterfly orchids, Taiwan also has the white butterfly. Such other genera as Cattleya, Vanda, and Dendrobium are from abroad.
In the past, it took seven years for Cattleya to bloom. Now, because of improved cultivation methods, it, takes only five years. Butterfly orchids, takes two years. In. Taiwan, the orchid season is March and April, September and October. Orchids bloom once a year. The delicately tinted fragile blossoms are sensitive to heat and wind.
Nine of ten orchids raisers of Taiwan have concentrated on Cattleya. The number of Cattleya imported, each year exceeds 30,000, including all the most famous species. In recent years, some growers have used S1. Rainbow Hill and C. Sedlescombe in crosses that have produced colorful new varieties. To keep the new species rare and prices high, cultivators preserve only a few seeds.
Orchid cultivation first become popular in Taiwan at the end of the Ming dynasty 350 years ago. A group of poets, in Chiayi county began growing orchids and formed a society. Today this county has a similar society with more than 200 members. Taiwan has a total of 10 such organizations cultivating more than 100,000 plants.
Mayling Orchid
A doctor in Taichung county has 3,000 orchids. He treats the flowers as he does his patients — gently and carefully.
Li Chin-sheng of Kaohsiung has nearly 10,000 plants. He is interested in new varieties, many of which are exported. In 1965, Taiwan sold more than US$10,000 worth of orchids abroad.
Beside individuals there are many group cultivators. Included are the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau, the Bank of Taiwan and the Hua Nan Commercial Bank.
The most famous Taiwan orchid was developed by the Shihlin Horicultural Station in suburban Taipei after a cross of Lc. Easter Belle and Lc. Momus Calgoss of 1946. In 1962, this new variety, named the Mayling Orchid for Madame Chiang Kai-shek whose given name is Mayling, won top prize in an international show in San Francisco. It won another award in California the following year and prizes at Nantes, France, in 1965 and at Paris in 1959. The Shihlin Horticultural Station has become famous for this one bloom.
Tang Pao-yun, playing the "orchid girl", comforts her ailing physician with gift of orchids. "Orchids and My Love" won several awards at Asian Film Festival in Seoul. (File photo)
Feng Wen-po, chief of the station, says that although the climate of all Taiwan is subtropical, the orchid cultivation conditions of north and south are quite different. Only Cymbidium is adapted to northern Taiwan. Phalaenopsis and Dcndrobium are grown only in southern Taiwan. The cost of a seedling is only US$0.15. When full grown, the average orchid retails for US$5. Exhibitions are held in Taipei and other cities annually.
Orchid cultivation inspired the Central Motion Picture Corporation to produce the feature film "Orchids and My Love". It tells how a polio-stricken girl regains her health after growing orchids. The vigorous, lovely flowers help her overcome an inferiority complex and re-establish her self-confidence.
In May of 1966 orchid raisers of Taiwan sent 15 plants to an international flower show in Beirut, Lebanon.