As Pankaj said, having an eflora for India is a wish and dream of everyone who loves our plants and appreciates the floral wealth of our country. Yes, ours is the largest forum that deals with Indian flora. Garg ji is doing a great and tremendous job of putting all the discussions together in the database/site. He is already into preparing the base of future eflora.
As Gurcharan ji pointed out, we have to start preparing building blocks for the ambitious and mammoth construction. Our major concerns would be uniformity of data presentation, selection of suitable pictures, and most importantly scientific validation (Herbarium?!). I do have a question: on what basis should we prepare descriptions? While we understand that referring other works is a must, we don't want to just copy paste from other publications. It will in that case be just a duplication. I think we have to brainstorm regarding this and also the size and depth of description and keys... Like you all, I am also sure that we are moving in a right direction. Conducting organized surveys and the passion and mission to capture maximum diversity is I think a major development towards achieving our goal. Thanks and kudos to all the members of the special survey teams. The results and findings of such surveys are enormous... Regards Vijayasankar Raman National Center for Natural Products Research University of Mississippi On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 1:23 AM, jmgarg1 <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks, Pankaj ji, > We are certainly moving in the right direction. > I have been writting to the people all over the world including India & a > lot of them are aware of our work in one way or the other. > Plus a word of mouth from members, is doing us a lot of good. > This can be seen in our increasing membership from all over India & few > from outside. > Each of them have a lot of praise for us. > We have come a long way & still has a long way to go. > Let every member do their best from their side & things will certainly be > on our side. > > > On 11 September 2012 11:27, Dr Pankaj Kumar <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Many of us saw similar dreams too along with Prof Rawat and Prof Gadgil >> and me when we put up this proposal to MoEF in 2011-12. Unfortunately MoEF >> hasnt done so far. But somewhere I heard they started digitizing their >> herbarium sheets at BSI. >> Many members here in our family are not aware but we are already >> following the foot steps of our dreams and we certainly have achieved >> something from nothing in our community and family of eflora of India. >> We already have a very strong database with so many members representing >> different regions of India. Earlier I used to say that all are not >> professional botanists but frankly, now many of us have become better than >> many professionals. >> We indeed have a huge database and things are being added again and again >> over time. To my personal belief, this is an effort equivalent to Sir >> J.D.Hooker when he worked on the Flora of British India. But for sure we >> have a long way to go, make our database more stronger >> and more comprehensive. >> Here are some points I would like to suggest: >> 1. Invite members from each and every corner of India, atleast 1 from >> each district of India, One from each University. >> 2. I wish at one point every university in India should known about our >> existence, in return we help them identify their plants as far as possible >> and of course for free. >> 3. Prepare professional description of plants as far as possible or link >> the species to proper botanical diagnosis is available on internet (this >> Garg sir has already been doing). >> 4. I wish some one from us to represent our family at Indian Botanical >> Congress or Indian Science Congress for people and government to know. >> 5. We have members from media in our group, I would like to request them >> to have some article on our family and let people know about our selfless >> efforts. Its not about publicity, but its about awareness. >> >> I know I myself have been very less active bu8t I am asking for too much. >> Best regards >> Pankaj >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Thursday, 6 September 2012 13:23:05 UTC+8, JM Garg wrote: >>> >>> Dear members,. >>> Vijayasankar ji saw a dream- a dream of having an e-flora of India & he >>> told us about it a few years back when he joined efi. >>> He also expressed his desire to be part of this one day. >>> There was a lot of discussion on this issue & his dream still remain >>> fresh in my & others mind. >>> There was a similar desire from Singh ji. >>> >>> I am attaching that old thread: >>> https://groups.google.com/**forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!** >>> topicsearchin/indiantreepix/**group:indiantreepix$20AND$** >>> 20Quest$20AND$20for$20AND$20'**e-flora'$20AND$20of$20AND$** >>> 20India/indiantreepix/nPBfRIs_**K0s<https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!topicsearchin/indiantreepix/group:indiantreepix$20AND$20Quest$20AND$20for$20AND$20'e-flora'$20AND$20of$20AND$20India/indiantreepix/nPBfRIs_K0s> >>> >>> We tried to create something like efi site in addition to FOI, though >>> their real dream is still away. >>> At this point of time, we can only say that we are moving in the right >>> direction & one day their dreams will certainly be fulfilled. >>> -- >>> With regards, >>> J.M.Garg >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/**User:Jmgarg1<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1> >>> 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' >>> The whole world uses my Image Resource of more than a *thousand species*& >>> eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged >>> alphabetically & place-wise): http://commons.wikimedia.org/** >>> wiki/Category:J.M.Garg<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg>. >>> You >>> can also use them for free as per Creative Commons license attached >>> with each image. >>> For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian >>> Flora, please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group: >>> http://groups.google.co.in/**group/indiantreepix<http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix>(more >>> than 1950 members & 1,27,800 messages on 31/8/12) or Efloraofindia >>> website: >>> https://sites.google.com/site/**efloraofindia/<https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/> >>> (with >>> a species database of more than 7000 species). >>> Also author of 'A Photoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of >>> India'. >>> >>> -- >> >> >> >> > > > > -- > With regards, > J.M.Garg > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 > 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' > The whole world uses my Image Resource of more than a *thousand species*& > eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged > alphabetically & place-wise): > http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg. You can also use > them for free as per Creative Commons license attached with each image. > For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, > please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group: > http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix (more than 1950 members & > 1,27,800 messages on 31/8/12) or Efloraofindia website: > https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/ (with a species database > of more than 7000 species). > Also author of 'A Photoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of > India'. > > --
