Designing and Developing a Bioresource Information Centre for Floral Resources of Himachal Pradesh, Western Himalaya

Recognizing the need of information-sharing and its implications, development of on-line plant databases has been advocated. The present article provides details on the development of web-enabled Bioresource Information Centre for Floral Resources of Himachal Pradesh, Western Himalaya. It is a MySql database that presently houses information on ~1500 plant species. This information pertains to distribution, life form, population, local name, taxonomy, image, use, conservation status and alien species. Twelve tables form the backbone of this repository. In website creation, the database interface has been implemented using wordpress CMS written in PHP. The designing of graphic user interface has been done using HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript and jquery. The site allows for basic and guided search, and is compatible with all major browsers and operating systems. It is dynamic and provides the user with an option of sharing of information.