Hi Diane: Yes, they are used in conjunction with a visual inspection of the plant. Unfortunately, spring emergent foliage, flower bud, full flower, fruit, fall color and winter characteristics (stem color for instance) are often required to confirm an identification so the expert will see at the most a couple of these characteristics during the 2-3 days they are able to spend at CBG. Once a species is verified, the images are uploaded to Morphbank's image server located at Florida State University. http://www.morphbank.net/ At this time we have almost no geophytes online but do have a number of perennial and woody taxa. Their Simple Search feature is quite useful. The verification work is part of our participation in the North American Plant Collections Consortium organized by the American Public Gardens Association. Boyce Tankersley Director of Living Plant Documentation Chicago Botanic Garden 1000 Lake Cook Road Glencoe, IL 60022 tel: 847-835-6841 fax: 847-835-1635 email: btankers@chicagobotanic.org <Is the verification of the photos done in conjunction with examining the live plant? Are these to be distributed to other institutions, or are they just a record of the plants in your garden?>