Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

How Accomplished are we for Writing our National Flora?


Affiliations
1 Environment Protection Training and Research Institute, Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500 048, India
2 Botanical Garden, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, Bengaluru 560 065, India
 

This article deliberates upon expertise availability and material limitations which are considered as core hurdles in writing a comprehensive flora for India. The efforts carried out so far by the Botanical Survey of India and multiple and diverse technical impediments for permission to collect biological materials in Reserve Forests and other Protected Areas are detailed. Constraints to access type specimens and authenticated materials housed in European herbaria are elaborated. Digitization and database development to build an Indian virtual herbarium are to be taken up on priority basis for expeditious completion. Multinational collaborative projects promoting joint explorations/scrutiny of specimens/old literature/correspondence related to Indian flora would facilitate a full grasp and a clear presentation on the taxa reported from the country. This will boost the pace of publishing a national flora with the desired excellence.

Keywords

Herbaria, Multilateral Collaboration, National Flora, Taxonomic Literature.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Hooker, J. D., The Flora of British India, Vols 1–7, L. Reeve & Co, London, 1872–1890.
  • Gamble, J. S., Flora of the Presidency of Madras, Vols 1–3, West, Newman and Adlard, London, 1915–1936.
  • Cooke, T., The Flora of the Presidency of Bombay, Vols 1–2, Taylor and Francis, London, 1903.
  • Prain, D., Bengal Plants. Vols 1–2, N W & Company Printers & Publishers, Calcutta, 1903.
  • Kanjilal, U. N. et al., Flora of Assam, Vols 1–6, Government of Assam, Gauhati, 1934–1940.
  • Duthie, J. F., Flora of the Upper Gangetic Plain and of the Adjacent Siwalik and Sub-Himalayan Tracts, Vols 1–2, Taylor and Francis, London, 1903.
  • Haines, H. H., The Botany of Bihar and Orissa, Vols 1–3, L. Reeve & Co, London, 1922.
  • BSI, Plant Discoveries, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, 2016.
  • Fraser-Jenkins, C. R., New Species Syndrome in Indian Pteridology and the Ferns of Nepal, International Book Distributors, Dehra Dun, 1997.
  • Bandyopadhyay, S. et al., Are we following the Art. 40.7 of the Code in letter and spirit? Phytotaxa, 2014, 163(4), 239–240.
  • Bandyopadhyay, S. et al., Failings in holotype deposition of twelve plant names. Indian J. For., 2016, 39(4), 407.
  • Bandyopadhyay, S. et al., Names of new taxa published and types deposited – a case study. Ann. Plant Sci., 2016, 5(10), 1451–1457.
  • Bandyopadhyay, S. et al., Names of new taxa published and types deposited – a second case study. Ann. Plant Sci., 2017, 6, 1585– 1589.
  • Bandyopadhyay, S. et al., Missing holotypes of names in plants, fungi and algae published from India. Int. J. Adv. Res. Bot., 2017, 3(3), 34–39.
  • McNeill, J. et al., International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants (Melbourne Code) adopted by the Eighteenth International Botanical Congress, Melbourne, Australia, July 2011. Regnum Veg., 2012, 154, 1–140.
  • Sanjappa, M. and Venu, P., Indian herbaria: legacy, floristic documentation and issues of maintenance. Proceedings on Tropical plant collections legacies from the past? Essential tools for the Future? (eds Fries, I. and Balslev, H.), in The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Denmark, 2017, pp. 149–162.

Abstract Views: 330

PDF Views: 118




  • How Accomplished are we for Writing our National Flora?

Abstract Views: 330  |  PDF Views: 118

Authors

Potharaju Venu
Environment Protection Training and Research Institute, Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500 048, India
Munivenkatappa Sanjappa
Botanical Garden, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, Bengaluru 560 065, India

Abstract


This article deliberates upon expertise availability and material limitations which are considered as core hurdles in writing a comprehensive flora for India. The efforts carried out so far by the Botanical Survey of India and multiple and diverse technical impediments for permission to collect biological materials in Reserve Forests and other Protected Areas are detailed. Constraints to access type specimens and authenticated materials housed in European herbaria are elaborated. Digitization and database development to build an Indian virtual herbarium are to be taken up on priority basis for expeditious completion. Multinational collaborative projects promoting joint explorations/scrutiny of specimens/old literature/correspondence related to Indian flora would facilitate a full grasp and a clear presentation on the taxa reported from the country. This will boost the pace of publishing a national flora with the desired excellence.

Keywords


Herbaria, Multilateral Collaboration, National Flora, Taxonomic Literature.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv116%2Fi8%2F1299-1303