At the beginning of the twentieth century the United States Department of Agriculture commissioned artists to produce watercolours of new fruit introductions. Over 7,000 paintings covering 38 plant families have survived and are reproduced here on colour microfiche.

The original paintings are housed in the herbarium of the U.S. National Arboretum. About 40 per cent are designated types while some of the paintings are probably the only illustrations in existence of the cultivars they represent.