To broaden its botanical content, TogoTV is producing plant illustrations grounded in scientific observation, in collaboration with the Kyoto Botanical Gardens.

A scientific illustration of a plant has to be more than beautiful: it must capture morphology and diagnostic features accurately, which makes expert verification essential. TogoTV therefore looked for a partner who could provide review by plant specialists.

The Heritage Trees of the Kyoto Botanical Gardens include trees that are important in the history of Japanese botany as well as trees connected to a wide range of research. After discussion between the staff of the Gardens and of TogoTV, the Heritage Trees collaboration was chosen as the project best suited to botanical illustration and to being documented systematically.

Every illustration released here was produced through close discussion with the illustrator and reviewed by the tree doctors of the Kyoto Botanical Gardens. The slideshow on the left documents one such process: photographing a plant sample provided by the Gardens, examining its details under a stereo microscope, drawing the illustration, and reviewing the result.

AI image generation attracts a great deal of attention today, but for scientific illustration it remains essential to draw from the actual specimen, to examine it closely with instruments such as microscopes, and to reflect accurate information under expert review.

AI is good at schematic diagrams and mash-up imagery, but it falls short when the characteristics of an individual specimen have to be represented.

TogoTV will continue to expand its botanical content while keeping this scientific perspective at its centre.