Bletilla - asian terrestrial orchid

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Doing some googling I think Bletilla striata is called a 紫蘭 but I am not sure...I'm illiterate ...or is it 白及
interesting that it seems that 兰 or 'Lan', the word for orchid doesn't seem associated with it. or maybe 兰 doesn't mean orchid? or am I confused? or the ancient chinese grouped orchids as differently than scientists, I know plants like clivia are called 兰 when they aren't orchids

Hey Fren- Are you using a special character? I see two 'question marks'. in your sentence:

I think Bletilla striata is called a 紫蘭 but I am not sure...I'm illiterate ...or is it 白及

Cheers,
BD

[jtlqh]

Chinese name for Bletilla is 白芨. It is very common in China. I think it is used for herb medicine.

Qing

[smartie2000]

BD I just copied some chinese characters I found. Sometimes I get '?' too. I think the computer has to be set to view chinese.

My mom explained it to me... 紫 is purple, and 蘭 and 兰 are two ways of writing 'lan' or orchid, so it is 'chee lan'
and she doesn't know what 白芨 (what qing wrote) means though she can pronounce it since chinese characters are phonic. 'bak churk' was what she said, maybe it translates to white something I don't know. So I think in chinese they can be referred to as both 白芨 and 紫蘭, but 白芨 more in medical uses I would assume

I think I confused everyone since we are all english speakers

[Brutal_Dreamer]

BD I just copied some chinese characters I found. Sometimes I get '?' too. I think the computer has to be set to view chinese.

My mom explained it to me... 紫 is purple, and 蘭 and 兰 are two ways of writing 'lan' or orchid, so it is 'chee lan'
and she doesn't know what 白芨 (what qing wrote) means though she can pronounce it since chinese characters are phonic. 'bak churk' was what she said, mayb translate to white something I don't know. So I think in chinese they can be referred to as both 白芨 and 紫蘭, but 白芨 more in medical uses I would assume

I think I confused everyone since we are all English speakers

Maybe we can find an image of the Chinese characters and post it. My computer is only showing me 'question marks' in your post and Qing's post. Thanks for the explanation, Fren!

Cheers,
BD

[Jmoney]

nice frilly lip and info too!

[smartie2000]

Here's a photo of part of my last post...

I get tons of question marks too on many webpages. I think the image is a bit small...

edit: I pasted it on word and took another picture to make it bigger

[jtlqh]

In Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is called 紫兰，in mainland China, it is called 白芨。Some said they are different, others insist they are the same. You need to visit the Chinese site to read all the arguments. I only got to know these type of orchids recently.

Qing

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Here's a photo of part of my last post...

I get tons of question marks too on many webpages. I think the image is a bit small...

edit: I pasted it on word and took another picture to make it bigger

Thanks, Fren! This is so much better!! I was about to look for a place to download a Chinese language font or reader or something!

Cheers,
BD

[jtlqh]

Bruce, what browser and version you are using? Sometimes when you visit a Chinese site, the computer will automatically prompt you to install a language package. Try this one yahoo China

[smartie2000]

Interesting info Qing thanks. So there are two names because of two different cultures.