Description

Author story about the species

This plant is from its favourite eastern climate in the Huanuco central zone of lower montane forest of Peru from around 700 – 1000 m elev. and around Tingo Maria. It was time consuming to paint the amazing spotted leaves, as I had to paint the background purple, leaving areas of green to make the leaf spots and best represent the leaf texture. Spotting green on purple was not a good option especially with the watercolour. The close cousin of this species Psychopsis papilio – the Butterfly Orchid – so infatuated the 6th Duke of Devonshire, William Spencer Cavendish in 1821 that he purchased it, becoming a huge orchid enthusiast and building a collection at his house Chatworth and sparking the start of the Victorian ‘Orchidmania’. Very little is known about the pollination and today the species can be seen high in trees waving in the breeze waiting for an unknown insect to appear.

• Date: 1994 (painted in Perú)
• Project: Orchids of Perú
• Original: SOLD – ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES COLLECTION
• Awards / Reviews: The painting was awarded an RHS gold medal.