This is the book my instructor showed us, and I've read elsewhere that
it's a bad translation. But if the orchid is a cym. what are the
hair-like things? And someone brought in another book that referred to
the calyx. And what is the "heart" of the orchid? Is this the column
and the lip? I like to understand what I'm trying to represent.

Thanks everyone for all your help.

Janet

J. Del Col wrote:
Janet Price wrote in message ...

I've an odd question, but someone must know the answer. I've been
taking a course on chinese ink brush painting, and it covers how to
paint bamboo, plum blossoms, orchids, and chrysanthemums. I'm
interested in finding out just what kind of orchid this is.

It's described as a grass orchid or a marsh orchid, is probably
terrestrial since there are never any aerial roots. The leaves are
grassy. There seem to be one to several blossoms per bud stalk, with
the stalks having some kind of nodes on them and the blossoms hanging
from a short stem from these stalks. The flower has something that the
book refers to as stamens, but which are probably some kind of hair-like
things. Its center is drawn as a petal with a curved line coming from
one end and going perhaps 2/3 of the way to the other end.

The closest thing I've found is a calopogon of some sort, but they don't
appear to come from china. Pleiones and cymbidiums come from china but
they don't seem to fit the description.



Take a look at -The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting-- for how the Chinese
dealt with orchids. Usually the plants were cymbidiums, but any orchid could
be used.

The MSGMP has wonderful illustrations, but I've been told that the English
text is a poor translation of the Chinese original.


J. Del Col



--
Janet Price
Curricular Computing Specialist

x5141