Flower pattern description question

[Peppa]

I received a question from one of my Japanese friends about what to call specific kinds of markings or patterns on flowers in English. Because I am not a native English speaker, I couldn't come up with much, so I wanted to ask here. On the attached picture of the hellebore, is there a specific word or phrase you would use to describe the flower pattern? "Flush", "wash", "streak", etc.? I have told my friend that there isn't a single word that describes it (as far as I know), but he was still doubting me so I thought I'd post the question here. In Japanese, this pattern is described as "吹掛絞り" (Fukikake shibori);  I would tend to call it "white with a pink wash". Any comments would be appreciated!!

Thanks!

[annew]

I think I would agree with you, Peppa. It's beautiful.

[Maggi Young]

That's a good description - I agree.   These  things can be tricky though,  I'm not sure if there is an "official" terminology for such colours/patterns. 

[Peppa]

Thanks Anne and Maggie for confirming that the description makes sense. I think my friend was wondering if there is an official terminology describing such colors/patterns of this flower. There is a lot of official terminology in Japanese referring to small specific traits of color, shape, and pattern in flowers and plants, and my friend wanted to know if such a thing also existed in English.

[Maggi Young]

I'll ask Alan Elliott- he may know.

[alanelliott]

Maggi my fillings picked it up on the wifi.

Roseate - Tinged with red.
From Plant identification terminology : an illustrated glossary 2nd Ed. Harris & Harris

Its the only bit of terminology I could find in the 3 most used glossary/terminology books here.
But colour is so subjective even more so when it is not uniform. It is encouraged to use the RHS colour charts but not everyone has access to them in the UK and especially outside UK and it is even less helpful in this situtation.

I used the word flushed when describing flower like this "white flushed with pink", but the translation works just as well.

[Maggi Young]

Thanks Alan.

 Yup, colour descriptions of solid unbroken colours are problematic enough! 

[Rick R.]

I would call it an inverse color flaring.  Not sure where I picked that up (my own brain?).  I see normal color flaring as color radiating out from the center.  So I would call this one an inverse magenta flaring.

Can anyone corroborate?

[Peppa]

Thank you Alan (and Maggi) for the information! I will tell my friend about the description and the book you mentioned, and will also tell him about the RHS color chart. He'll be happy for the info.

Thank you Rick for your description! I never thought of it that way, I will let my friend know that there are several different ways to describe it.