Photo: sunoochi from Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 2.0. Unmodified apart from resizing.
Colour
green, yellow
Region
Japan and temperate East Asia, Singapore and tropical Asia
Season
summer, autumn
Shape
hanging raceme
Identification
A terrestrial orchid and a major group of the Chinese guolan. Strap leaves, upright, broader and stiffer than the spring orchid's. An upright scape with several flowers, pale yellow-green, the sepals and petals with or without purple-red stripes and the lip spotted purple, intensely fragrant, one pot scenting a room. Unlike other guolan it flowers long and several times a year (up to six), hence four-season orchid. Famous forms include golden-thread horsetail, phoenix-tail su and iron-bone su. Its genome was sequenced in 2021.
Habitat
Humus under open woodland, in scrub and valleys at 600–1,800 m; very widely grown, the orchid most often kept in southern Chinese homes.
Distribution
Southern China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan, Taiwan and elsewhere), South-East Asia and southern Japan; Fujian and Guangdong are the cultivation centres, it is among the tōyōran of Japan, and it is grown in Singapore.
Season and behaviour
June to October, high summer into autumn, several times a year; scent strongest at dawn and dusk.
Photography tips
These are the FilmAnalysis editors' notes, not content from the sources.
Pale yellow-green flowers float only against a dark background; side light and macro for the purple-red stripes on the petals and the spots on the lip. The upright strap leaves are the lines of the composition, in a portrait frame. A potted plant with an old pot and stand is a scholar's still life in soft window light.
Photographic styles
Pale green orchids before a dark background; a scholar's potted still life.
Similar species
Spring orchid (one flower per scape, early spring); Cymbidium kanran (autumn and winter, narrower longer petals); Cymbidium sinense (broad leaves, dark flowers, winter and spring).
Related badge
None yet. No validated photo recognition exists for this species, so no badge is tied to it: a name in the encyclopedia is not evidence in a photograph.
The illustration is original FilmAnalysis artwork. The photograph is from Wikimedia Commons; its licence and author are under it.
Why it is listed: this species comes from the Flower checklist (GBIF backbone and Wikidata verified). Names follow the GBIF backbone and Wikidata; the facts follow the sources below; photo recognition is not offered.
