UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Visitors to The Arboretum at Penn State now can explore the H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens with the Arboretum's new, interactive Plant Finder.

The map-based program allows users to find the locations of more than 1,100 species of plants in the Arboretum’s living collections.

The map is accessible by computer or via mobile device while strolling in the gardens. Visitors can use their device’s location services to explore plants near them or zoom the aerial photographic overlay to identify a specific plant.

This project was made possible by a collaboration with Penn State’s Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE). The Arboretum and IEE have collaborated on several other interactive online maps, which can be found on the Arboretum’s website. 

Plant Finder will be updated as more plants are added to the collections and the gardens expand. Users also can look forward to additional images, descriptions of plants, and more advanced search functions as data are gathered about the collections.