Yesterday I was in a meeting with one very senior, great orchid expert from
Russia, Prof. Leonid Averyanov. He has spent nearly 30 years studying
plants in Vietnam and of course studied Russian Orchids and flora too. He
has named over 200 new taxa to science.
We were four guys, Russian, Austrian, British and me, Indian.
He said something that really touched me a lot so felt like sharing.
He asked why do we collect herbarium specimens?
Some one answered that to make vouchers of our collections. Its acts like a
proof that yes we saw and studied this plant.
And his answer was, "NO. ITS BECAUSE, WHEN NOTHING WILL REMAIN ON EARTH
THEN WE CAN SHOW THESE COLLECTIONS TO OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS AND TELL THEM
THAT SUCH PLANTS EXISTED ON EARTH BUT WE DESTROYED THEM TO EXTINCTION".
I got goose bumps hearing him say this...
Pankaj
