Archive of Vanished Flora
Calling up the specimens…
About the Archive

Archive of Vanished Flora

100
Specimens
100
Filmed
1958–2024
Records
100%
Extinct

Archive of Vanished Flora is a repository of plants found in the world's far places, and gone.

01What this is

Every plant kept here is fictional. Yet each is held with a record of having been "found" in a real place — the rocky North Atlantic coast, the Atacama Desert, the glaciers of Greenland. We record the question "what if such a flower grew there" with the seriousness of a herbarium.

Vanishing DewringDawn-fading MistbloomAurora GlasscupMist BellSocotran BloodtearFog HourglassRainfold HerbFirst-frost BloomNight SpiralSteambloomSalt EmberIce-clad BellGlacier BloomAshveil FlowerLow-tide BloomBlackwater MarginPetrifying BloomWandering TumbleweedCave-mouth BloomCloudforest OrchidSinking BloomLava PioneerPale Ghost-flowerSeabird CliffbloomFireborn BloomEbbwater FlowerThaw BloomTideglow FlowerAfterstorm BloomSandwake BloomTreefall LightReceding RockbloomIron-shun FlowerDrypool StarCrumbling-edge HerbSoda-breath HerbSacrificial RockmossTwo-form CedarThrice-count FlowerVessel-return HerbObsidian StarSplit-root HerbScattered-kin HerbHill-reweaverCanopy-return HerbBared-root HerbSerpentine ReaderLeafless GreenbrushTime-layer CushionChannel-root CasterForerunner HerbSnow-window BloomWandering Stilt-TreeBeast-lodge PitcherValley-Tide BloomDrought-Calendar TreeThunder CandelabraOne-Leaf Rain ParasolFoil-flash BloomClockwork Passion-vineCleftkeeper Moss-bloomFogloom Tree FernSunken Lantern LilyDrift-raft BloomWaterclock BloomHourglass Bottle TreeSnowmelt BloodspikeSealed Gourd TreeJewelfire PoppyCompass Staghorn FernCentury-spire BloomChime-Node BambooWaterline CliffbloomMonkey-ladder LianaNightwell BloomEmberstep TorchSoundboard Buttress TreeNightshrink Gypsum-rootRain-glass BloomAnt-lodge CaudexCharcoal-rooted NightshrubPebble-mimic BloomJade-Curtain VineFencepost CypressAge-Ring BushSnowghost BloomSnow-cradle BlossomEarthburst BloomSilver MistcatcherClockspring Coil-leafDragon's-blood ParasolDusk Paper-lanternThrice-blushing BloomSlingshot FruitThousand-year Twin-leafSand-window SucculentCreepline SilverleafFrost-ribbon BloomGoldcrown Relay TreeStardust BloomVanishing DewringDawn-fading MistbloomAurora GlasscupMist BellSocotran BloodtearFog HourglassRainfold HerbFirst-frost BloomNight SpiralSteambloomSalt EmberIce-clad BellGlacier BloomAshveil FlowerLow-tide BloomBlackwater MarginPetrifying BloomWandering TumbleweedCave-mouth BloomCloudforest OrchidSinking BloomLava PioneerPale Ghost-flowerSeabird CliffbloomFireborn BloomEbbwater FlowerThaw BloomTideglow FlowerAfterstorm BloomSandwake BloomTreefall LightReceding RockbloomIron-shun FlowerDrypool StarCrumbling-edge HerbSoda-breath HerbSacrificial RockmossTwo-form CedarThrice-count FlowerVessel-return HerbObsidian StarSplit-root HerbScattered-kin HerbHill-reweaverCanopy-return HerbBared-root HerbSerpentine ReaderLeafless GreenbrushTime-layer CushionChannel-root CasterForerunner HerbSnow-window BloomWandering Stilt-TreeBeast-lodge PitcherValley-Tide BloomDrought-Calendar TreeThunder CandelabraOne-Leaf Rain ParasolFoil-flash BloomClockwork Passion-vineCleftkeeper Moss-bloomFogloom Tree FernSunken Lantern LilyDrift-raft BloomWaterclock BloomHourglass Bottle TreeSnowmelt BloodspikeSealed Gourd TreeJewelfire PoppyCompass Staghorn FernCentury-spire BloomChime-Node BambooWaterline CliffbloomMonkey-ladder LianaNightwell BloomEmberstep TorchSoundboard Buttress TreeNightshrink Gypsum-rootRain-glass BloomAnt-lodge CaudexCharcoal-rooted NightshrubPebble-mimic BloomJade-Curtain VineFencepost CypressAge-Ring BushSnowghost BloomSnow-cradle BlossomEarthburst BloomSilver MistcatcherClockspring Coil-leafDragon's-blood ParasolDusk Paper-lanternThrice-blushing BloomSlingshot FruitThousand-year Twin-leafSand-window SucculentCreepline SilverleafFrost-ribbon BloomGoldcrown Relay TreeStardust Bloom

02How it is kept

Each specimen carries the coordinates of its discovery, eight plates, its local name and folklore, and where possible a film. Its scientific name, classification, year of description and conservation status are fictional but given under consistent rules, to keep the feel of a true catalogue. Every specimen finally bears a year it was "last seen," closed as Extinct (EX).

Socotran BloodtearSanguilarmis socotranaSocotran BloodtearNight SpiralSpiranthella nocturnaNight SpiralGlacier BloomGlacianthus groenlandicusGlacier BloomLow-tide BloomAestulittora atlanticaLow-tide Bloom

03On not existing

This archive is not a place for making lies seem true. Rather, we hope that a carefully recorded absence might stir the imagination toward a nature no one has seen.

The specimen plates and film records are produced using generative AI.

This plant does not exist.
And yet — perhaps we are only overlooking a flower we have not seen.
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