(2 August 2018) More than 8,000 living specimens in the Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection have been digitized and are now available to see and study from anywhere in the world. The Smithsonian’s Mass Digitization Program, in association with the National Collections Program, started photographing the plants in December 2017 and recently put the complete collection online.
You can search for specific plants by name, taxonomy or flower color and see multiple views of each specimen in high-resolution photos.
The digitization staff used high-resolution (80 megapixel) digital cameras to capture the fine details, like the stamen, on a small orchid flower. The team shot multiple angles of every plant then integrated the images into the collection, which includes more information about the piece (in this case, details such as species, area where it grows and common plant names).
The Smithsonian Insider has the photographs and the full story by Hannah S. Ostroff.
