"Sean Houtman" wrote in message
news:1106860261.068750950298bc55d9b4ee2cf29183b3@t eranews...

Yes, for this type of illustration, you want to make sure that the
features that separate this species from related ones are clearly
rendered. That may mean that a part that displays that feature is in
the forefront, or angled so that it is easy to see.

That is a fairly standard practice in botanical art,so I am familiar with
looking at a specimen that way. Whether I always get it right is open to
conjecture.

Which features chosen will vary between plants. For instance, if you are
illustrating a grass, and the main feature that separates your
chosen species is the shape of the ligule, you probably want to make
sure that the ligule is prominent.

I have not as yet felt ready to progress to a body of work on any particular
species, but it is swirling around as a project in the dark recesses for
next year.

Doing your homework in a case like this may mean you research the
original description, which will generally start out with a bunch of
latin, and then the same stuff in another language (usually English,
but not always, depending on the native tongue of the describer).
Those descriptions often say something like "looks like
$SOMEOTHERPLANT except..." so you might want to take a look at what
that some other plant looks like.

I'm sorry if I haven't quite grasped the above but you seem to be saying
that an illustrator could , or should be able to, work principally from
the description of a plant in botanical terms.
Or do you mean in conjunction with a live specimen?

Gramma