Thank you Sirji for the advance wishes and tips for making the trip a memorable one. Though you may not be joining with us, we are sure that your prayers and care would be with us. I am waiting for this trip to happen for me because this is my first trip beyond Karnataka towards north, though I had been to North-East I could never make a trip to north. Much excited in joining with Balkar sir, Nidhan ji, Rajesh and all to gain more and more lights.
Thanks and Regards, Giby On 7 July 2012 21:43, Satish Phadke <[email protected]> wrote: > Well said Sir ji. > > On Jul 7, 2012 4:20 AM, "Gurcharan Singh" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Dear members > > Let me first wish the members visiting Valley of Flowers next month, a > happy and enjoyable journey, memory cards, pen drives and external hard > discs full of lovely photographs (they will need it thanks > digital photography which allows you to take as many photographs as > possible without much recurring expenditure; it will be useful if one or > two members have a small laptop to download pictures from camera into > storage drives for other members also). I wish I was a part of it, my long > standing desire. Unfortunately I won't be a part of this dedicated team of > explorers, as I am flying to USA towards the end of this month. > > I have seen and to some extent had some role to play in making > members to get identifiable photographs. It was a practice (and still with > many often citing time constraint) to take a single (or a few) close up of > the flower only that makes identification a difficult task most of the > times. More so digital photography often gives very confusing estimate of > size, unless a measurable object or scale is used. The size of plant, size > and shape of leaves, their insertion, arrangement of flowers on the > inflorescence axis, bracts (presence, size and shape), pedicel (presence or > absence and length if present), size of calyx in relation to corolla > (including size relation of lobes and tube), corolla colour, length, > diameter; number of sepals, number of petals, size relation of corolla tube > and lobes, numbers of stamens and length, numbers of styles and stigmas and > their length in relation to ovary, the type, shape and size of fruit are > all important characters very crucial in identification. More so in > different families different characters hold more importance, which even > not the trained taxonomists may know for all the families. > > I am not here to confuse you the least. Just enjoy your trip and > photography. Forget about these terms if you are not a botanist. Just take > a few good photographs of each plant that you encounter, upload it when you > come back, and let the experts extract the identifying features from your > photographs. I hope it would be ideal if you bring back at least four good > photographs of a plant: > > > > 1. Habit of the plant, showing a twig well in focus, taken from side of > the branch. > > 2. Close up of the flower from side so that its insertion on the axis is > visible. > > 3. Close up of the flower from the top so that corolla, stamens and > carpels are in focus. > > 4. A close up of the fruit (in available. > > Any additional photograph would be a bonus, but please don't miss any of > these as far as possible. > > Please spend an extra shot of a small twig with flowers along side a > scale (a pen especially its tip pointing the objec; or on your palm so that > you can later estimate size) to get accurate estimate of size of flowers > and leaves (and by inference other parts. > > > > Again wishing you a Happy and fruitful trip of Valley of Flowers > > > > > > -- > > Dr. Gurcharan Singh > > Retired Associate Professor > > SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007 > > Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018. > > Phone: 011-25518297 Mob: 9810359089 > > http://www.gurcharanfamily.com/ > > http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/ > > > > -- GIBY KURIAKOSE PhD Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Royal Enclave, Jakkur Post, Srirampura Bangalore- 560064 India Phone - +91 9448714856 +919947109987 (Mobile) visit my pictures @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/giby
