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.

Any ideas?


Janet Price

Hi Janet

You might try looking at the Chinese ground orchid (Bletilla sp.), such as
B. striata. The vegetative growth on Bletilla looks alot like grass.

You might visit http://www.thimblefarms.com/ , as they carry it, and their
site has some information about it. But just doing a google search on
either bletilla or "chinese ground orchid" will get you lots of information.

Cheers,

Ted

Most likely they are cymbidiums, of the species sinense, ensifolium, kanran
or the like. I have photos of several he

http://www.firstrays.com/photos_C.htm

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

.. . . . . . . . . . .
"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.

Any ideas?


Janet Price

Janet,

Could the orchids be Chinese cymbidiums? These are the only orchids I
can momentarily think of that have grassy leaves and are valued for
their leaves as well as their flowers when it comes to judging.

What is the name of your book?

.. . . Pam
Everything Orchid Management System
http://www.pe.net/~profpam/page3.html

----------------------------------------------------


Janet Price wrote:

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.

Any ideas?

Janet Price

Janet,


They are Cymbidiums.

I don't have my books on Chinese brush painting here with me (I like
the paintings, but I have no artistic skills), but the ones that I
have also give an indication on the time of flowering AND based on
that we would be talking about Cymbidium goeringii when they say
winter/spring and Cymbidium ensifolium when they talk about summer.
In my book Cym. goeringii is described, if memory serves me correct,

I feel Cymbidium kanran & sinense are too "large" when compared to the
brush paintings that I have seen and bought when in China.

Of course "our" latin names don't hold up much in China they al refer
to them as "lan hua", so actually you should be looking at what is
refered to as:

Section Lan (1 or rarely 2 flowers per inflorescence and more
fragrant):

Cymb. goeringii

Section Hui (5-7 flowers but less fragrant), and within this section
the small flowered ones and among those I think this should be an
almost complete list:

Cymb. lianpan, longibracteatum, ensifolium, nanulum, cyperifolium




kind regards,

Kenneth Bruyninckx
Akerne Orchids, Belgium

http://www.akerne-orchids.com


On Fri, 07 Nov 2003 13:31:45 -0500, Janet Price
wrote:

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.

Any ideas?


Janet Price

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

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

Janet,


Don't have my books on the subject at hand right now, but maybe you
should have a look at Prof. I-Hsiung Ju's site (
http://www.ihsiungju.addr.com/index.html ), I bought his book recently
and to me it seems good.
That is where I got my idea of the grass orchid being Cymb. goeringii
and the marsh orchid being more something like Cymb. ensifolium
(because of indication of flowering period and some explanations of
the leaves).

I have also seen a reference in there to the "heart" of the orchid,
although I do not remember anymore what they meant by that :-)

But, your description of "hair-like things" puzzles me... where are
they located ? At the base of the plant, on the flower stalk ?


kind regards,

Kenneth.



On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 15:22:51 -0500, Janet Price
wrote:

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

Sometimes old leaves do leave a fibrous remnant at the point of
removal...could they the be hair-like things?

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

.. . . . . . . . . . .
"Kenneth Bruyninckx" wrote in message
s.com...
Janet,


Don't have my books on the subject at hand right now, but maybe you
should have a look at Prof. I-Hsiung Ju's site (
http://www.ihsiungju.addr.com/index.html ), I bought his book recently
and to me it seems good.
That is where I got my idea of the grass orchid being Cymb. goeringii
and the marsh orchid being more something like Cymb. ensifolium
(because of indication of flowering period and some explanations of
the leaves).

I have also seen a reference in there to the "heart" of the orchid,
although I do not remember anymore what they meant by that :-)

But, your description of "hair-like things" puzzles me... where are
they located ? At the base of the plant, on the flower stalk ?


kind regards,

Kenneth.



On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 15:22:51 -0500, Janet Price
wrote:

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

On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 08:39:00 -0500, "Ray"
wrote:

Sometimes old leaves do leave a fibrous remnant at the point of
removal...could they the be hair-like things?

Could well be, I have never looked at my scrolls that close lately but
I cannot remember that "feature" in the paintings I bought.

Anyway, just found "The book of Orchid" by I-Hsiung Ju agian, it was
actually lying close to me in a huge pile of other orchidbooks.

In there I-Hsiung Ju mentions 3 types of orchids:

- Ts'ao-Lan (spring orchid) - strongest fragrance, only 1 or 2
flowers, Cymb. goeringii for sure !

- Huei-Lan (marsh orchid) -long leaves, many flowers, fragrance of
the spring and flowers in the sun are like a white jade pagoda...hmmm
a white Cymb. ensifolium ?

- Min-Lan (Fukien orchid) - leaves broad and supple coming from
Fukien (Fujian) province, and if course there are several species of
Cymbidium growing in that province :-)


Btw, the heart is the stamen of the flower and placed most often at
the bottom of the flower.


kind regards,

Kenneth.

http://www.akerne-orchids.com

Kenneth and all,

Thanks again for your info. I'd sort of concluded that the "heart" was
somehow the column and lip combination. The other feature, that was
described to me as stamens, shows up as darker smudges just to the side
of the center.

Janet Price