Thanks a lot, Chadwell ji. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "C CHADWELL" <[email protected]> Date: 12 Jan 2017 3:03 a.m. Subject: Beware MISIDENTIFIED plants found on google image searches To: "J.M. Garg" <[email protected]> Cc:
*My informal research suggests that AT LEAST 50% of plants in cultivation under/labelled* *as species from the Himalaya have been misidentified - whether from Seed Exchanges or* *Commercial Sources. There are even misidentifications in the major BOTANIC and BOTANICAL* *gardens. So just because a name is given on a label or on google is NOT a guarantee.* I shall give you some examples with ANEMONE which I have just been checking the entries for on eFI. If one checks with THE PLANT LIST - which is a VERY useful reference but one must realise that the *GOOGLE IMAGES* part simply accesses (without prior permission) ANYTHING under that name on the internet. *As the MAJORITY of images which come up are from NURSERIES or PRIVATE GARDENS in the* *West, whose proprietors/owners are NOT trained in plant identification, it is hardly surprising that* *a SIGNFICANT proportion are MISIDENTIFIED. A photo taken in the WILD is more likely to be* *correctly identified but this is not always the case.* *I thus STRONGLY advise members to use such images WITH CAUTION - they may LEAD TO* *FURTHER CONFUSION and INCREASED MISIDENTIFICATIONS!* *Anemone vitifolia* *I suspect that ALMOST all images labelled as this are in fact garden hybrids - incl. the OTHERWISE reliable* *Berlin Botanic Garden!* Many of the plants in this garden have been raised directly from wild-collected seed and there is a nearby herbarium which IN SOME CASES checks identifications. The only correct entries are the line drawing from Flora of Pakistan and Flowers of India site (which were taken in the wild). *Anemone tetrasepala* *Again, ALMOST all the images under this name are misidentified. In this case it is not due to hybridisation (though one* *should be aware this can happen in cultivation). As this has proven not to be easy-to-grow in Western gardens, FEW* *nurseries are able to propagate it or offer it for sale, making their CLAIMS to be cultivating it likely to be FALSE.* *A majority of the images have been taken in the wild in Uttarakhand and are Anemone polyanthes.* *The second image (poor quality) is of Anemone rivularis!* *The sixth image I am uncertain what this is.* *The ninth image is of a line drawing from 'Flora of Pakistan' which is correctly identified.* *The thirteenth image MIGHT be correct but does not show the lower foliage nor tell us where the video was taken* *The fourteenth appears to be Anemone rivularis!* *Anemone obtusifolia* For this species, I consider MOST of the images are correctly identified, though have my doubts about one or two. *Anemone rupicola* For this species some images are correctly identified, others are DEFINITELY not. *Anemone rivularis* Most, if not all, of the images of this have been correctly identified. This species is easily grown and propagated plus is found extensively in the Himalaya, so I EXPECETED this to be the case. Best Wishes, Chris Chadwell 81 Parlaunt Road SLOUGH SL3 8BE UK www.shpa.org.uk -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
