This #MuseumMonday, we’re highlighting botanist John Kunkel Small and his remarkable documentation of South Florida’s ecology. The Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden archives contain native plant pressings, including scarce native orchids and 100‑year‑old specimens collected by Small, each marked with the distinctive “Charles Deering Herbarium” stamp. For more than 30 years, Small meticulously recorded the flora of South Florida’s wilderness. A frequent guest at the Richmond Cottage, he explored Charles Deering’s protected hammocks and pinelands, as well as the rapidly changing habitats surrounding them. His concerns grew as the once abundant tropical landscape, rich with orchids and numerous fern species, began to disappear as development expanded across the region. Today, the Deering Estate continues Small’s legacy by working directly with the Regional Conservation Team at Fairchild to outplant and monitor rare orchids and ferns. To learn more about John Kunkel Small and South Flor...