Dear All: Mani ji is right , in his neighborhood ethanol is not available, neither is it in my neighborhood.... In West Bengal apparently there is a huge pressure on chemists/drug stores to maintain records of ETHANOL sales...they prefer not to stock it... avoid hassles and all that goes with it.... so not available... only Isopropyl alcohol to doctors for their injections.... " the rectified spirit even if it had methanol" of my salad days could have been useful to make the 70% alcohol to preserve the flowers for ID...
These are not good days for the citizen scientist... the armchair naturalist... who in 17th, 18th and 19th century flourished and help enhance the cause of science . BUT I TAKE heart that we are armed with good quality digital cameras where we can catch fantastic stuff for our own consumption and for posterity or for databases...and this sort of groups and the internet. WE NEED TO DISCOVER IF ISOPROPYL ALOCHOL WORKS JUST AS WELL for flowers, I'll get some and buy some run of the mill orchids and tuberoses etc from the local florist and immerse them for 1, 3, 5, 7 days, take out and dissect to see if the petal structure survived.... I 'll report it here in couple of weeks' time... In the mean time I need to learn to reduce the pic size without loosing details that I like and upload images... Usha di. On Apr 3, 6:47 pm, mani nair <mani.na...@gmail.com> wrote: > Dear Pankaj ji, I enquired for the 70% alcohol with the chemists in our > area, but nobody stocks it. Please let me know other alternatives. > Regards, > Mani. > > On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 10:17 AM, <formpeja...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > As per my understanding or faded memory formaline decolourises the specimen > > and makes it brital too. > > Even alcohol has to be used with some % of CuSo4. > > Remaining may ask someone and let you know. > > Madhuri > > Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Ushadi micromini <microminipho...@gmail.com> > > Sender: indiantreepix@googlegroups.com > > Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:08:22 > > To: efloraofindia<indiantreepix@googlegroups.com> > > Subject: [efloraofindia:65939] Re: Phaius tankerville-MN260311 > > > Dear Gurucharan Sigh ji and Pankaj ji: > > Thank you.... > > my question really was can vodka be used ... > > a little googling got me this: > > usual vodka sold in international market > > is usually 40% or so... > > Its alcohol content is ethanol.... > > but I GUESS IT WOULD NOT DO ... since its only 40%... > > > so I guess I am to try and find Spirit from pharmacists... > > BUT NOWADAYS the alcohol availbale for cleaning injection sites etc is > > Isopropyl alcohol really... which carries its own toxicity for humans, > > but our regulators are not concerned with that at this point...I am > > goint to write that up elsewhere... > > BUT FOR THIS group... > > my next question is , suppose I did find the rectified spirit, and > > made 70% with WATER? or do I need to buffer it, like we do for human > > tissues preservation when using formalin? Can buffered formalin be > > used for preserving flowers? > > So in summary I am asking two questions: Rectified spirit is to be > > diluted with what, and cand buffered formalin be used for flowers in > > particular and botanical specimen in general? > > Thanks.. > > Usha di > > > On Mar 28, 3:57 pm, Pankaj Kumar <sahanipan...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > :)) > > > Thanks for asking. > > > When I said alcohol, I always meant, ethyl alcohol or ethanol. I dont > > drink :) > > > Frankly, yes, beer or vodka, which also has alcohol can be of some > > > help, but not for longer duration.....and then it stinks which I dont > > > like.... > > > Ethyl alcohol bottles are available at chemist or scientific labs. > > > > On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 4:22 PM, Dr Pankaj Kumar > > > > <sahanipan...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > > > From: mani nair <mani.na...@gmail.com> > > > > Date: Mar 28, 3:12 pm > > > > Subject: Phaius tankerville-MN260311 > > > > To: efloraofindia > > > > > The same question I was about to ask you. Is it available in any > > > > Chemist > > > > shop. I am from a liquor industry, but I do not think the liquor will > > > > help. > > > > > Regards, > > > > > Mani. > > > > -- > > > *********************************************** > > > "TAXONOMISTS GETTING EXTINCT AND SPECIES DATA DEFICIENT !!" > > > > Pankaj Kumar Ph.D. (Orchidaceae) > > > Research Associate > > > Greater Kailash Sacred Landscape Project > > > Department of Habitat Ecology > > > Wildlife Institute of India > > > Post Box # 18 > > > Dehradun - 248001, India
