Orchids

Public

The orchid family (Orchidaceae) is one of the largest and most diverse families of flowering plants, with species occurring across a remarkable range of habitats and regions of the world. Orchid specimens preserved in natural history collections provide an invaluable record of this diversity and of the historical distribution of these plants. Their collection localities are particularly important for understanding patterns of species distribution, biodiversity and biogeography, while historical records can provide valuable baselines for studying changes in habitats and species ranges over time. This project brings together orchid specimens from historical collections, helping to recover the geographical information associated with them and to make these valuable records more useful for research into orchid diversity, biogeography, ecology and conservation.