Introduction
Joseph Shaw received his degree in Botany from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received a PhD in the area of plant sciences from the University of California, Davis. He tought undergraduate and graduate botany and molecular plant biology for 10 years at Auburn University. Thereafter he worked in industry annotating the human genome and as a scientific writer.
The Details
David Griffiths (1867-1935) was a botanist employed by the Bureau of Plant Industry (USDA). He studied the genus Opuntia as part of a project to develop forage for cattle in dry climates. An expert on cacti, Dr. Griffiths described over one hundred Opuntia species from the USA and Mexico and wrote extensively about the genus. Additionally, he took thousands of black and white photographs. Many are stored as glass negatives at the Smithsonian Institution Archives (Washington, DC) where they can be viewed by the public.
Dr. Vicki Funk of the Smithsonian Institution described the negatives and how to find them (Griffith’s Cactus Negatives; January 1988, Taxon 37[1]:76-107). Negatives can be scanned by visitors to produce positives. I scanned many of the glass negatives into positive-image TIFF files and uploaded over 150 images to this Web site.
Over the years some negatives broke as they were moved from one storage place to another, and the emulsion peeled from others. However, many negatives are intact and have exceptional quality and clarity. Some of the negatives are 5 × 7 inches, and others are 8 × 10. Because they are large, the negatives can produce superb photographs if the emulsion is intact.
I am still in the process of scanning images and learning how best to process these black and white negatives. It is important to preserve the images before more break or degrade because many are the single photographic record for poorly understood species. These images can help resolve current-day taxonomic questions.
Taxonomy
The species names given here are those provided by Dr. Griffiths as recorded by the Archives, and some may not be aligned with with modern taxonomic treatments. But, most of the images depict familiar species correctly (see Opuntia Web), and they are in agreement with current-day understandings. This information is a rare look into the botany of the past at the time each species was discovered. What did scientists see and what did they think as they were actually discovering and naming new species of plants
Image numbers reflect the Smithsonian Institution Archives catalog numbers. An additional sentence or two may be available for some of the images such as the date when the photograph was taken or where the plant was grown. Contact the Archives or write to me if you desire additional information.
Sharing
All of the images are in the public domain and you can freely make copies. If I have them, I will forward large-size images too. However, I ask that you reference opuntiads.com as the modern-day developer. Write to me at jshaw[at]opuntiads.com.