eflorapantnagar

Plants make the chief embellishment of our landscapes and these green photosynthetic organisms are the marvels of more than 4 billion years long organic evolution on Earth. Green plants are not only pleasing and soothing to the eyes but owing to their unique ability to capture the radiant energy of the sun, almost entire life on Earth depends on them. Human beings are massively overusing plant resources and consequent to this our planet, today, is facing the sixth mass extinction, one of the fastest in the history of Earth, completing the inventory of plant species at global and local levels is urgently needed before it becomes an exercise in palaeobotany (Raven & Wakernagel, 2020; Mabberley, 2017). Green plants are the living objects which we see more often in our daily lives than any other living object. However, we hardly know or remember the scientific names of these plants. Even for conservation efforts a plant must be known correctly with its currently accepted scientific name. Scientific names are the corridors through which one reaches the treasure of existing knowledge about a species in scientific literature. 

This site is constructed to showcase digital images of all the plants of Pantnagar with their scientific names. Anyone willing to know the scientific name of a plant may see these images and can identify his plant by comparing it with identified images on the site. It is simple and easy. This information is useful to anyone interested in plants of Pantnagar- undergraduate and postgraduate students, research students, scientists and teachers. 

“Rather than waiting for a perfect work in the distant future, it is better to summarize current knowledge which can be useful to all in meeting immediate needs”. The virtual flora of Pantnagar in the form of eflorapantnagar is founded on this thought. A beginning has been made; it will evolve into a database of plants of Pantnagar.

Plants can be identified by various methods and more popular methods are- the use of taxonomic keys, the use of written description, specimen comparison, expert determination and image comparisons. Of these, the last method is easiest and requires little knowledge of Plant Taxonomy; otherwise rest of the methods can only be used by expert Taxonomists. eflorapantnagar is constructed to showcase digital images of all the plants of Pantnagar and one can compare a plant in hand with identified images available on this site to know its scientific name. It is simple and easy. Scientific names are the corridors through which one reaches the existing knowledge about a species in scientific literature. This corridor opens only when we are able to know the scientific name of a plant. This site helps in opening these corridors by giving photographs of the plants and their scientific names, a role otherwise restricted to Plant Taxonomists.   

       Pantnagar is expected to have more than 1000 species of wild and cultivated seed plants. The site started with wild plants initially in the first version (17th November 2015-September, 2021) but now in the second version (October 2021 onwards) large number of cultivated/exotic species have also been included it. Initially, it may not contain all the species of plants growing in the territory of Pantnagar but the collection is expected to increase gradually with time. About 500-600 species of wild angiosperms are expected in the Pantnagar area. This site in its earlier version started with the images of about 425 species of 307 genera under 87 angiosperm families. Now it includes a large number of cultivated species and the coverage exceeds  115  angiosperm families and 5 gymnosperm families. This process of addition of species is continuous till all seed plant species are showcased here. 

Please note!

    Utmost care is taken to ascertain the identities of plants but this site does not claim absolute correctness of the identities of displayed plant species. Errors may occur due to the problem of synonymy, changes in circumscriptions of species and genera or recent changes in names. However, we assure all efforts to rectify displayed information if brought to the notice of the administrator of the site at eflorapantnagar@gmail.com. It is advised that for scientific publications authors must get their specimens authenticated by any scientific institution like the Botanical Survey of India, Forest Research Institute Dehradun, C.S.I.R.-National Botanical Research Institute Lucknow etc.

Photographs displayed on the site are copyrighted material and must not be used without permission of the owner of the photograph. Interested persons may contact the administrator for permission. 

SUGGESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THE SITE OR ITS CONTENT MAY PLEASE BE MAILED TO:  eflorapantnagar@gmail.com