Our group has the distinction of being largest egroup in India (and perhaps the whole World) devoted to the study of Indian plants with record 3066 mails during the last month. The Group since its inception in June 2007 has
made great strides and this would not have been possible without the dedication and graceful participation of veterans like Garg ji, Satish Phadke ji, Prashant ji, Tabish ji and Devendra ji. The group has attained status and great expertise with the active participation of Vijayasankar ji, Srikant ji, Muthu ji, Rashida ji, Satish Chile ji, Balkar ji, Nayan ji, Satish Pardeshi ji, Rani ji, Dimple ji, Anil ji and several other experts on the group. The real strength of the group are plant lovers Neil ji, Yazdy ji, Anand ji, Madhuri ji and Aarti ji who keep on providing important inputs because of their love for plants. The group has got real impetus with the introduction of Tanay who has taken group to new heights.  It gives great pleasure and satisfaction when we find nearly 80-90 per cent of the IDs getting resolved within half an hour. Frankly the job of resurfacing is getting easier and easier.    There was a time when it would take months to get an unknown plant identified. I remember when I wrote my first book in 1999, I proudly announced in the book the episode of having resolved the identification of an unknown plant in the eGroup TAXACOM within one hour. I in fact also published the whole thread in the book. In 2010 the situation has reached that in our group the identifications are now achieved sometimes within five minutes of first posting. All members deserve full credit for this.    Our group also has the distinction of being the most refined group (I am member of several other groups and really know the difference) on the net where observations, comments and identifications are provided without any show of authority. I request members, especially the new ones, to kindly keep this in mind while commenting on photographs uploaded by other members. If members find any photograph not up to the mark or feel that some additional photographs are needed you can request (not ask or tell) the member to upload some more photographs. We enjoy interactions on the group when communications are made in cordially. There are so many experts on the group, and let us not give the least indication that we know more than others. We can simply give our opinion, and let the thread progress.   Since the group has progressed a lot I would like to repeat what I have written many times earlier also. When our group started (for that matter even Flowers of India) it mostly consisted of photography and nature enthusiasts who would be attracted by only flowers. This can be easily seen in earlier postings. With professional touch to the group, and goal of developing eFlora of India it is essential that we have complete photo representation of each species. I would request members to upload a good number of photographs showing a twig with flowers/fruits, clear view of insertion and type of leaf, side view of flower (so that bracts, bracteoles, calyx are clearly visible), top view of the flower and fruits and seeds if possible.   This would help in developing a good database and also helping
in the process of identification  (Dr. Gurcharan Singh- 5.6.10)
 
Thanks, Singh ji. I think most important thing is to maintain cordial environment so that members can interact & learn about their passionate subject & progress further. This group has tried to bring a layman closer to an expert & bridge the gap between them. It has also given a new dimension to the information available on net in the form of efloraofindia database, flowersofindia website & Dinesh ji’s posts on ‘Flickr’ etc. (J.M.Garg- 5.6.10)
 
I am in total concurrence and although my personal interests are more inclined toward animals than plants, this forum is indeed an educational treasure trove. I appreciate different kinds of plants even though I may not know their names. My favourite plant is Mussaenda that I used to have during my childhood. Specially the pink one. I have also enjoyed reading David Attenborugh’s ‘The Private Life of Plants’. In Bengal there is some very good material on plants written by Jagadish Chandra Bose and Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya in Bengali. I have read some of them. I was also totally bowled over by Kew Gardens, it is an incredibly beautiful place that I visited in 2004. Fascinating. (Shobhobroto- 5.6.10)
 
I read your letter many times and would like to read many more times, You know why! Please be always with the younger ones. This message will certainly do world of good. (Mithilesh K. Pathak- 5.6.10)
 
I am really happy that a fatherly figure like you is the member of this group who encourage us and keep the members on track without hurting anyone of them. It is very much neede than just to send the mails for identification We say in education value education is lacking now it should be included as a part of syllabus.
Sir your letter is very important to teach the core values of respecting others. You remember all our names and respect us and make us proud that i feel that i am a member of this family and not the e group sir. Thank you ver much for the encouragemnt. your letter has come on 5th June which is the enviroment day. So I wish All the Happy Enviroment Day. (Madhuri- 5.6.10)