Cymbidium ensifolium 'Fu Mountain Wonder Butterfly' - Orchid Board

Libo · #1 10-25-2011, 01:29 PM

For those who have never seen something like this, please don't freak out

If you consider this to be a freak, I can totoally understand

This is one of the extremely rare case of orchid to have a "double" type flower. Actually it is not true double, more like flower inside a flower, or "tree" flower. I personally do not find this very appealing, but this type of flower can be really expensive in China. Close up shows the structure of the flower having multiple sepals and petals, as well as multiple lips. There are some column like structure, but I doubt it will be fertile. There are anthers though which may be fertile. Regardless of the strange shape, the flower is very fragrant.

This represent the Chinese chrysanthemum type flower, which may be why Chinese find this attractive. Also, the reason it was called "Butterfly" is because the multiple dotted lips in the flower. Under the right condition the flower will appear redder than the one shown here, which looks like fireworks and may be more attractive. I personally still like the simple structure of the common orchid flower better. But this unique one deserve a place in a cym. ensifolium collection.

Cymbidium ensifolium 'Fu Mountain Wonder Butterfly' by ~Libo~, on Flickr