Smithsonian Gardens (SG) is transforming the ways we share information about our living collections to make the plants and their stories more accessible to all. 

This fall, SG staff selected orchids from the Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection with conservation stories to highlight in the 2024 Future of Orchids exhibit. Through digital photographs, 3D models, and even works of art, we now make these living specimens broadly available as a multi-faceted conservation resource for research, education, and engagement.  

One featured orchid, Encyclia tampensis var. alba (SG Collection #: 2021-0826*A) figures into several conservation narratives. 

Encyclia tampensis is native to central and southern Florida, the Bahamas, and Cuba where it often grows along waterways in humid areas on tree trunks and branches.  Its common name, the Butterfly Orchid, references the butterfly-like movement of its flowers in the wind.  Due to overcollecting beginning in the late 1800s, this plant is now considered commercially exploited in Florida and may not be harvested or sold without a permit. 

In partnership with the North American Orchid Conservation Center (co-founded by SG, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and the U.S. Botanic Garden), Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami has established the Million Orchid Project, the nation’s largest educational outreach program dedicated to orchid conservation.  This initiative has resulted in the successful propagation and reintroduction of hundreds of thousands of Encyclia tampensis in urban landscapes across south Florida – conservation at a commercial scale.

As a Nationally Accredited Plant Collection, one of the SG Orchid Collection’s strategic goals is to increase North American geographical representation of tropical and subtropical orchids. To meet this goal, SG is partnering with Fairchild. SG has received orchids from the Million Orchid Project, including Encyclia tampensis, and, in return, is sharing orchids with Fairchild that fit within that botanic garden’s collecting scope.

To share stories of orchids with a global audience, SG collaborated with the Smithsonian’s Digitization Program Office (DPO) to digitize thousands of specimens. Photos and information about them are now readily searchable online via SG’s Plant Explorer portal.

DPO also 3D captured a handful of plants from the SG Orchid Collection and processed the data into 3D models.  With this 3D data, scientists can look closely at plant structures that are only a few millimeters wide.  The 3D models, accessible online at 3d.si.edu/, now serve as a permanent record of an ephemeral moment in time and are a way to observe the orchids’ morphology (size, shape, and structure) long after their blooms have wilted. 

To further spark visitors’ imaginations, SG shared the 3D models with local artist Phaan Howng who created artwork inspired by them for Future of Orchids.  Howng made 3D prints and layered additional materials on them including steel, rubber, and papier mâché to create larger-than-life sculptures that capture incredible orchid details.  She painted these sculptures with richly layered colors and patterns, transforming the 3D models into unexpected works of art that provide yet another platform to share these living collection items and their stories with a global audience.