 Mutis was based in Bogotá, but as with other Spanish expeditions, he had access to local knowledge and a workshop of artists, who created highly accurate and detailed images.This type of careful recording meant that even if specimens were not available to study at a distance, "because the images traveled, the botanists did not have to".Humboldt was astounded at Mutis's accomplishment; when Humboldt published his first volume on botany, he dedicated it to Mutis "as a simply mark of our admiration and acknowledgement".