Currently, this upstart Phalaenopsis still waits in Grand Biotechnology's greenhouse for further tissue culture and propagation. It will be two years before it's fully commercialized, but the Pixie, primed to be the next big thing, represents a new chapter for Taiwan in industry-government cooperation in orchid cultivation.
There are those who say that just as the 17th century was the age of the tulip, the 21st century is the age of the Phalaenopsis.
Taiwan has been called the Kingdom of Orchids. Back in 1994, Phalaenopsis joined the mango, high-mountain tea and tilapia as one of Taiwan's big four agricultural exports. Phalaenopsis cultivation has been going on in Taiwan for nearly a century, and the process has been industrialized for 20 years, with splendid development in quality, shape and color.
Hsieh Ting-fang, director of the Floriculture Research Center at the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), tells us that Phalaenopsis is a member of the family Orchidaceae. The moth-like shape of the flowers, dancing gently in the breeze, gives this genus the common name of "moth orchid."
Subtropical Taiwan is the northernmost limit of the moth orchid's range. Of some 50 species of Phalaenopsis, Taiwan is home to just two indigenous species: red-flowered P. equestris and white-flowered P. aphrodite. But with constant hybridization, there are over 1,000 Phalaenopsis varieties found in Taiwan, with flowers as big as 17 centimeters across and as small as 2.5 cm. The coloration is highly diverse: among white flowers alone, we're availed of pure white forms, white with a red labellum, white with a touch of red halo on the lobes, white mottled with black dots, and much more. The colors of the red flowers range from deep red and light red to pink, light pink and light pink with stripes. And Phalaenopsis Golden Emperor, rare and stately, as well as Phalaenopsis Harlequin, adorned with curious purple-black splotches giving a clown-like appearance, are Taiwan-bred orchids that took the world's major exhibitions by storm. "Basically, the colors of Phalaenopsis have been so diverse that it's hard to breed any new colors," says Hsieh.
Certainly, professional and amateur orchid growers have tried countless crossbreeding possibilities, enriching the staggering variety of Taiwan's moth orchids. However, after many years of breeding and growing, the simple, elegant red and white varieties still dominate the market. But growers relentlessly cultivate new varieties with a gambler's mentality, hoping to hit the jackpot with the next market leader.
Little white flowers with pink stripes and a dainty peach-colored labellum exude the sentiment "I love you." Are you enchanted by this new Phalaenopsis variety-Tainung No. 1 Pixie?