Botanical Art

Plants have always been good subjects for art because pattern (genetics) combined with variation (environment) yields design.  And of course prior to photography, and for many reasons still superior, botanical illustration was quite significant and a bridge between science and art.  For reasons still unclear in his mind TPP minored in art, which was somewhat unusual for a biology major, but having limited artistic talent, this interest was turned toward acquiring whatever art attracted my attention.  Funny, TPP never set out to be an art "collector", but after awhile it sort of accumulates and why before you know it you have a collection, a big collection, and yes, a great many have a botanical theme.  Of the many things TPP likes about his second home Australia, one is that they have a great tradition of natural history art.  One of TPP's prized possessions is a print by Leslie van der Sluys (google him to see examples of his work), and since his untimely and recent death his prints are getting harder to find and pricier.  They are stunning B&W prints each hand colored.  So naturally it came as no surprise to find that an online clearing house for botanical art had Australia as its base although botanical art from many countries is represented.  This water color of lotus so brazenly displayed here is the work of another Australian artist, Jenny Phillips, whose work TPP saw at a recent botanical congress in Melbourne.  Yes, TPP is tempted to buy this piece, but his art allowance has been sort of depleted of late. 

More botanical confusion - Lotus

Undaunted by having lost this post to an electrical failure earlier, the Phactor will endeavor to X-plain another confusing botanical subject - the lotus. Lotus, as a flower of myth and legend, is tied to so many stories in so many traditions, naturally things are going to get mixed up a bit. Leaving the automobile out of it, what plants are actually called lotus?

The Blue Nile lotus is actually a waterlily (Nymphaea) as illustrated in the wonderful old botanical painting. And when Homer wrote of "land of the lotus eaters" this was the plant he was most likely to have been thinking of.

The sacred lotus of India and SE Asia is Nelumbo nucifera, which is not a waterlily at all, however its similarity to waterlilies caused it to be misidentified as one for a long time. And both can be easily mistaken for one another in artistic and figurative representations. These medallions are ceiling paintings from a temple in southern India. The one on the left could be the golden lotus (below) and the one on the right either a waterlily or a sacred lotus.

As if that wasn't enough, the golden lotus, a much revered plant itself, is actually a many bracted, many flowered infloresence in the banana family (Musella lasiocarpa). And this sort explains these cases of mistaken identity. The flowers of waterlily and the sacred lotus are both pretty large and have lots of overlapping petals. And in first appearances, the golden lotus looks likewise, although it isn't just one flower at all.

And to further add to the confusion the genus Lotus (called bird's foot lotus) belongs in the bean family, and why this bean came to share this name is unknown to me.