A while ago, a piece of news about the discovery of a colony of and alone in Qingyuan, Zhejiang Province "quietly" appeared on the hot search lists of major platforms. People who know the garlic orchid are happy and are not surprised by this. After all, given the rarity of this plant, it is normal for it to be trending as soon as it appears.
But Iâm afraid more people have never heard of them, or donât recognize them when they see them. Allium sativum is a plant. Itâs time to get to know this âbeautiful and tragicâ family.
"Pleione Don."
Pleione Don., belonging to the Orchidaceae Trichoderma subfamily, there are about 27 species in the world (including 8 natural hybrids), and 25 species are distributed in China , including 15 endemic species, including fragrant garlic orchid (P. , Yunnan Solitary Garlic Orchid (P.yunnanensis)... There are quite a few members, and all of them have distinguished status and are "national security".
Southern Tibetan garlic orchid
Chen's garlic orchid
In 2021, the national key protected wild plant list was promulgated, and the entire genus of garlic orchid (all species) was listed as a national secondary protected plant. According to the endangerment level of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Endangered Species (IUCN), last year, Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a threat level assessment on 26 species of Solanum sibiricum, 10 of which were critically endangered (CR). 9 species are endangered (EN) and 7 species are vulnerable (VU).
It is true that the garlic orchid belongs to the "family" and is a "jail-wearing" orchid. Picking, destroying or trading without permission will be punished by law.
Garlic Orchid is mainly distributed in the south of the Qinling Mountains in my country, to the Himalayas in the west, and to the sub-hotspots and tropical cool areas of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand in the south. In other words, China is the world distribution center of Allium species. In my country, it is mainly distributed in Southwest, Central and East China. It is also found in the northern parts of Guangdong and Guangxi and in the mountains of Taiwan. About 70% of the species are distributed in Yunnan.
The world distribution map of Orchid genus
The original habitat of Orchid
The fate is tragic
"Beautiful, rare and delicate", these three words used to evaluate Orchid can't be more accurate. It is highly ornamental and a valuable traditional Chinese medicine. However, the cultivation technology has not been mature for a long time. Many factors have combined to cause the long-term destruction of the wild resources of this precious plant and the serious reduction of the population.
was purchased in large quantities for medicinal purposes, which was the main reason for the sharp decline in the population of Solanum vulgaris. The genus Yunnan Dusianlan and Dusianlan are the base plants of the crude drug " Shanzigu". Their bulbs can be used as medicine and are called " ice ball ". They have the functions of clearing away heat, detoxifying, resolving phlegm and dispersing stagnation. In recent years, it has received more and more attention due to its anti-cancer effects such as breast cancer , esophageal cancer , prostate cancer .
Ice ball
In Yunnan, it is called "Bletilla striata Nuo" and "Bletilla striata one-leaf ", and is widely used among the people to treat coughs. And it is said that if you are bitten by a snake, crushing the garlic orchid and applying it externally can detoxify and relieve pain.
With so many medicinal effects, the price of garlic orchid has remained high in recent years. It is understood that the price per kilogram of garlic orchid medicinal materials has increased from more than 10 yuan in the late 1990s to more than 1,000 yuan today. Driven by huge profits, illegal mining has been rampant. Nowadays, search terms such as "Single Garlic Orchid", "Purchasing Wild Singing Garlic Orchid in Large Volumes" and "Market Price of Wild Singing Garlic Orchid" will still appear openly on the Internet. Some people even posted a video saying, "If you see it, remember to take it home and sell it for hundreds of dollars."
Excavated Allium orchid
According to last yearâs survey results from the Kunming Botanical Garden Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in recent years, at least 60 tons of wild Allium orchid plants have been dug up in my country every year, and about 12 million of them have been harvested for medicinal purposes. , and the export volume of as an ornamental plant is about 100,000.
Such a beautiful garlic orchid, letâs just take a look.
"Forest Fairy"
Although the name is a bit "flavorful", the light floral fragrance of garlic orchid is close to nothing and has nothing to do with the strong smell of garlic. It got this name because its base is an ovoid pseudobulb (pseudobulb is a metamorphosis of the above-ground stem of an orchid, which can provide nutrients to the plant), which looks similar to a single-headed garlic. And because most of them have only one leaf and only one flower blooming at a time, they are also called " one-leaf orchid ".
Allium pseudobulb
Allium plants include terrestrial, lithophytic or epiphytic types, so they always appear in places such as rock walls and tree trunks. Among orchid plants, Allium sativum is a small flower. When not blooming, the ground part seems to have just emerged from the soil, making it very inconspicuous. However, once the flowers are in full bloom, they look refreshing, their postures are graceful like dancing girls or flying butterflies, and their petals are as delicate as water hibiscus. No wonder they are called "fairies in the forest".
Allium orchid plants mainly have three colors: red, yellow, and white. Among them, yellow is the rarest, and red has the most varieties. Representative species can be found from pink to deep purple. For example, the flower color of Yunnan orchid is light. The pink, showy-flowered P. aurita is bright purple-red; the white-flowered P. aurita mainly includes white-flowered P. aurita, large-flowered P. grandiflora, dwarf P. humilis and Autumn-flowered garlic orchid (P. maculata). The yellow-flowered P. forrestii is the most precious, and the main member is P. forrestii.
Yunnan garlic orchid
Gorgeous garlic orchid
Dwarf garlic orchid
The same species of garlic orchid may also show multiple color types, such as Taiwanese garlic orchid (P. formosana) and yellow flower. Alone garlic orchid, except the original In addition to color, there are also variations of white flowers; the two-leaf garlic orchid (P. scopulorum) even has three flower colors of white, yellow and purple at the same time.
Taiwanese garlic orchid in two colors
Two-leaf garlic orchid
Yellow-flowered garlic orchid
The rich and diverse "mysterious" markings on the lip are another major charm of the genus Garlic, the labial markings Not only the colors are diverse , and various shapes such as points, strips, and blocks vary greatly between different individuals and types.
Beautiful and changeable labial markings
According to the flowering season, Allium sativum plants can be divided into spring flowers and autumn flowers. Spring flowers are more common, and their flowering period is mostly from April to May; autumn flowers mainly bloom from September to October, and there are only four species, including P. maculata and P. maculata. P. praecox), and P. saxicola, three species, and the natural hybrid P. Ă largenaria.
Autumn flowers of Solitary Garlic Orchid
Wart sheaths of Solitary Garlic Orchid
Blooming inside the wall and fragrant outside the wall
And Rhododendron, Rose and many other famous Chinese flowers have a similar fate, Solitary Garlic Orchid It is also a typical "flowers inside the wall and fragrance outside the wall" .
As early as the 19th century, Western countries began to collect and introduce garlic plants from the Himalayas.In the early 20th century, with the collection of western missionaries and botanists in western China, more species of garlic orchid were introduced to western botanical gardens and became popular among enthusiasts.
However, as the seeds for sexual reproduction of Orchid alba do not have endosperm and are as fine as dust, the germination rate is extremely low in the natural state. Artificial propagation requires tissue culture in a sterile environment, so the history of hybrid breeding of Orchid alba is relatively short. short. It was not until 1966 that Georges Morel crossed the Taiwanese Allium sativum and the Sichuan Allium sativum and registered the first artificial hybrid Pleione Versailles.
Garlic seeds as fine as dust
After that, it entered a period of rapid development. So far, more than 400 Garlic varieties have been registered internationally, among which the UK has contributed the most. British Ian Butterfield has more than 100 self-bred garlic orchid varieties that have been launched internationally.
Letâs share two very well-known varieties of garlic orchid. 'Tongariro' (Chinese translation name: 'Tongariro') is a hybrid variety of the beautiful Solitary Garlic Orchid, Sichuan Solitary Garlic Orchid and Taiwan Solitary Garlic Orchid. It has pink flowers, rapid growth, good flowering and strong stress resistance. It is popular among many novices. Favorite variety; there is also a variety called 'Confirmation' (Chinese translation of 'Confirmation'), which is a hybrid between the autumn-flowered Allium sativum and the wart-sheath Alliang orchid. It not only has autumn flowers, but also has large flowers with colorful white petals around them. Colorful markings and adaptability.
The famous foreign garlic orchid variety 'Tongariro'
The famous foreign garlic orchid variety 'confirmed'
Catching up with
Although the garlic orchid has high ornamental value, and most species are native to our country , but in China it is very There has been no news of successful cultivation or registration of new varieties for a long time.
Until more than 10 years ago, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences started related research. Currently, there are more than 20 people forming a research team. In 2018, two hybrid varieties of P. solani bred by the team, 'P. Hayana' and 'P.Hong', were successfully registered in and the Royal Horticultural Society .
The garlic orchid variety âHaiyanâ bred by the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
The garlic orchid variety âHongâ bred by the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Since then, the team has successively registered 17 new garlic orchid varieties. âZhaoyaoshanâ, âChilianxianâ, âMountain Ghostâ, âMajiamiâ, âPleiades Star Officialâ⊠Not only do their flowers have their own characteristics, but their names are also unique.
Some of the Allium sativum varieties bred by the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
According to Dr. Zhang Wei, an assistant researcher at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the team has overcome a series of problems such as flowering period control, seed germination, artificial breeding of seedlings, and cultivation technology. Among them, some varieties can bloom in winter by regulating the cultivation environment. The natural flowering period of garlic orchid is mainly concentrated in spring and autumn, and the new varieties they cultivated, âHaiyanâ, âHongâ and âZhaoyaoshanâ can bloom from November to January of the following year, which can meet the market demand for winter festivals such as New Yearâs Day. "
'Zhao Yaoshan'
At present, in addition to the breeding of new varieties, the team is also conducting research on the ecological adaptability and medicinal ingredients of Orchid alba. It hopes to strengthen the collection of germplasm resources in the future, establish a complete breeding system, and select Breed new varieties with excellent characteristics and independent intellectual property rights, while protecting and utilizing wild resources, while promoting the development of my country's flower and traditional Chinese medicinal materials industries
(Written by our reporter Li Ying, the picture is by the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Provided by Zhang Wei, Hu Zhonghui, and Jiang Hong, Yunnan Academy of Forestry and Grassland Sciences.)
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