Visualising Taxonomic Diversity in a Living Collection - Sunburst Plots
Natural history collections can encompass thousands of objects across diverse families and genera. Representing this complexity in a meaningful and accessible way is challenging, especially when dealing with both broad taxonomic groups and fine-scale detail. The plots below illustrate this contrast: the first shows patterns across major vascular plant groups, while the second zooms in on species-level diversity within a single family - the orchid family.
This page presents two interactive sunburst plots that transform hierarchical taxonomic data into an intuitive visual format. Starting from the center, users can explore plant diversity from higher levels down to lower levels such as genera or species. Each arc’s size is proportional to the number of collection objects in that category.
The first plot offers a complete view of the taxonomic composition of Kew’s Living Collection down to genus level. It helps reveal which groups are most represented and where the collection is most diverse. Hovering over each rank will show how many collection objects are in that group.
Kew's Living Plant Collection
The second plot zooms into Kew’s Orchidaceae holdings, going down to the species level. Orchids are a major focus of ex situ conservation, and this plot highlights the breadth of the collection across genera and species. Like in the previous plot, hovering over each rank will show you how many collections objects Kew has from that group.