Flora De La Real Expedicion Mutis Passiflore, collection 1954 Passiflora Maraquitensis

Between 1783 and 1808, Mutis tirelessly led an extraordinary endeavor to collect and illustrate the plants of Colombia. To accomplish this huge project, he recruited and trained several illustrators and botanists, mostly from Colombia. After his death, this work was carried on by one of his most important students, Francisco Jose Caldas, who was killed in 1810 during the wars of independence between the South American colonies and the Kingdom of Spain.

In 1816, the King of Spain ordered all the descriptions, herbarium sheets, and illustrations of theExpedici6n Botanica de Nueva Granadato be shipped to Spain. They are currently deposited at the Royal 80tanic Garden of Madrid. In three decades, this expedition produced more than 6,000 illustrations and 24,000 herbarium specimens. At one time, twenty illustrators worked simultaneously on these extraordinary illustrations.