The plant images that you've seen in the Conservatory are from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History's Plant Photo Archive. Databases like this one allow botanists, other researchers, and anyone interested in learning more about plants to find examples and information about plants from all over the world. 

Activity: Think like a botanist! Use the Plant Photo Archive to try out some beginning plant research for yourself. Click here to get to the search page and enter enter a type of plant in the "Common Name" line. You might try "cactus", "dandelion," or "rose." If you are interested in trees, try "maple" or "oak."

For an extra challenge, try searching with the scientific name! You might try the scientific names of one of the plants that you saw in the Conservatory, or one from your own plant research. If you want a peek into what botanists do, try clicking on the "Keyword Search" tab and use this search bar to find other information about your plant. You might find leaf specimens, information about how a plant is categorized, or other research! 

Botanical Illustration

Before the invention of photography, the only way to record how plants looked was by drawing them! Botanists used field notebooks to record information about a plant and including small sketches. Books about plants featured more detailed drawings by highly skilled artists. Illustrations were even used by doctors to research medicine that could be made from plants. Botanical illustration is an important part of the history of the study of plants.

Activity: While photography is more commonly used to record plants nowadays, many people still enjoy learning about plants by "nature journaling," or drawing and recording information about the plants that they find. Start a nature journal of your own with a notebook or some sheets of paper folded into a book. With an adult, take a walk in your yard or a park and collect leaves, flowers, or seeds that you find. Then sketch them in your journal! Add the name of each plant if you know it, the date, and the location where you found it. You can also use the Plant Photo Archive to find other plants to draw! 

Click Next to leave the Conservatory and explore the Nichols Arboretum.