A yellow orchid is among hundreds of exotic Chinese plants on show in a photographic exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. The orchid, Pleione forrestii, is named after George Forrest, the Scottish botanist who discovered it during a trip to China in 1906. “It’s the only one of its genus that’s yellow, and remains a favourite among orchid breeders for that reason,” says Mark Watson, who helped to organise the exhibition.
The plant, which grows mainly on rocky boulders, is exclusive to northwest Yunnan, on the Burmese border. Watson, who is co-ordinating the garden’s role in revising and translating a major compendium of Chinese flora, says that the garden grows 6000 collections of plants from China, specialising in exotic rhododendrons, poppies and primulas. “Some of them are absolutely stunning plants,” says Watson. The exhibition ends on 23 July.