Ideas for our future efloraofindia

Ideas are all powerful.
As one idea from … of creating efloraofindia site around 10 years back, resulted in all these efforts being combined and displayed all over the world.
There may be many ideas looming in all of yours mind all the while, but not being said.
I request everyone to say your mind.
Maybe they are not implementable at this stage. Maybe we do not have sufficient time now, but can be thought of in future or can be implemented by someone else.
Even small changes can be worthwhile.
So, pl. suggest a few things here. 

Thanks …
It is a good and worthy suggestion.
Technology keeps on changing and there may have come friendlier writing interfaces for documentation, which we are not aware of.

Thanks, …
One thing I am feeling now that we have to seek images actively, particularly those species which we do not have.
This I have been trying to do for the past few months with good success.
Most of the persons you write to, are generally willing to help us.

It is a good initiative, I think.
I am sure that we shall move ahead to the next level with precision. 
May I share one of my thoughts.
I feel that we do not have a compiled checklist of plants of India.
Even I do not know whether any state does have the same.
I am wondering whether it is possible for us to have a list of plants country/region/state/area wise (or even family wise).
Then we can see how many of them we have in our database with information.
If we have such a list in excel and available in the drive for others to edit, then it will be great!
However, I know the fact that it would not be that easy. It will be a herculean task.
But as we, the determined and dedicated people around, we shall think of making it possible.
If such a list is available and adding the list with new species or species that are not yet listed, then searching for images or information will be easy.
Further if we can compile the data in an excel sheet, the moderators shall have a first look and suggest for inclusions at first hand and then, if needed, shall put it in group.
Thanks, …
Wonderful suggestion.
We were already moving in that direction for a long time.
In fact, this work was started (may be around 2012 or so) much before we knew how to insert images in our site and have comparative images.
Just to give you an example, pl. see one page say Ziziphus (this has been built over small additions many a time)
Here we are also verifying the correct nomenclature with different resources like Catalogue of Life, WCSP, POWO, efloras, The Plant List Ver. 1.1, GRIN etc. 
Genera with many species were taken up first. I think about 70 % work is already completed. Rest needs to be done although one may differ on the pattern to be followed.
Good thing is that we are basing all this on online resources (though some may be coming from offline resources), for every one to see and decide on the authenticity.
Based on the above, you may further give your suggestions.

Wonderful idea. Several lists can be incorporated into common database, one column for each state of India, one common for plants outside India. These can be compiled from National Flora (BSI, Far from being complete), regional Floras, and checklists. It would be very helpful if our last column is brief reference to the literature source, so that any additions made after publication of various sources are well referenced. One column (suitably placed) can be used to indicate link to efloraofindia entry (images, description, etc.). Once a common datasheet is approved, different volunteers can pick us different alphabets and compile information. In that manner stitching the data together, and when done by a volunteer,  would be very convenient.

Yes, it sounds good,  a good idea to be implemented. No one has started such a programme for the time being. 

Thank you …, …, my point is that if we have a compiled list we would get to know which are the species that we don’t have image and other info. 

We can further work towards by focusing these species with more emphasis. 

Thanks, …
We have already listed a lot of species. More can be added by members concerned. Or can be sent in any format to me and I will include them in the genus and family page.
Already D S Rawat ji has added a lot of species on many genera pages.
I feel anybody can start the work on any genus/ family and pass it on to us, in the way he likes (any standard format which is decided), so that this is incorporated in efloraofindia site. 

Pl. see listing at one page being done by Vijayasankar ji at Ranunculus
Pl. see another page which I have done at Saxifraga
Hi, Rawat ji,
Can you show some pages which you have done listing almost all species?
In fact any format is acceptable as long as it serves our purpose of listing all possible species. 

/species/a—l/b/balsaminaceae/impatiens

It is a very long page and list of species is after images.

Interesting discussions and ideas! Developing a consolidated database from state and regional floras/checklists is a great way to go!

A checklist of flowering plants of Tamil Nadu, prepared by Dr. D. Narasimhan and team, is available at http://tnenvis.nic.in/tnenvis_old/database_bio_flo.htm  I am attaching the Excel file here for quick reference. With a comprehensive and referenced list of 5,674 taxa, with additional helpful details, this is a great reference for the identification of plants from the State.
I hope such checklists may be available for a few other states as well.
Attachments (1) – Plants of Tamil Nadu – Database – TN ENVIS.xls- 1 mb.

Thanks, …
As you may be aware, I have extensively used it along with FRLHT (with you getting the permission), in initial phases when we started making genus pages. 
Now we have one consolidated at Flora of Peninsular India, which also I have started using.  

I think if we can put little more effort, a compiled check list is possible.

I agree with you, …, a combined checklist, which would be more convenient to handle, on the pattern of Flowers of India, Can have alphabet tabs or links, if we don’t want it to be too long.

What will we do of that until it is put up on a website (for every one to have access) on the lines of, say efloras? BSI also followed similarly on their site, put up online for a few years.
Our site also is on the similar lines except we do not create pages for species (so that people do not get confused that we have something inside and than find blank inside them, like India Biodiversity Portal)), which do not have any data with us in the form of images etc. (although their listing remains on our genus pages).

A checklist is a good option but, as you said, must be displayed somewhere in eFI. eFI, as I have repeated several times, is a huge database and needs to display clearly how many families, genera and species are displayed in it clearly to be a more accurate. This information is lacking, though every information is accessible. A checklist can be developed by copy-pasting of list of families, family pages and genera pages. This will retain the embedded page address of each entry (family, genus, species). However, it will require a much dedicated work for weeks to remove unidentified page information from it (retaining only identified species), making it compact, and changing format of listing. 
I don’t think it a work completed by a single person, rather a team approach is required here.
For Meliaceae I tried it and it looks as below:
 MELIACEAE (Identified  19 Genera and 28 species)

1.       Aglaia: Aglaia edulis, Aglaia elaeagnoidea, Aglaia lawii subsp. lawii, Aglaia odorata, Aglaia perviridis, Aglaia simplicifolia

2.       Aphanamixis: Aphanamixis polystachya,

3.       Azadirachta: Azadirachta indica

4.       Chisocheton: Chisocheton cumingianus subsp. balansae

5.       Chukrasia: Chukrasia tabularis

6.       Cipadessa: Cipadessa baccifera

7.       Dysoxylum: Dysoxylum gotadhora, Dysoxylum malabaricum

8.       Heynea: Heynea trijuga

9.       Khaya: Khaya senegalensis (Introduced)

10.   Lansium: Lansium domesticum (Introduced)

11.   Melia: Melia azedarach, Melia dubia

12.   Munronia: Munronia pinnata

13.   Naregamia: Naregamia alata

14.   Soymida: Soymida febrifuga

15.   Swietenia: Swietenia macrophylla; Swietenia mahagoni (Introduced)

16.   Toona: Toona ciliata; Toona sinensis

17.   Turraea: Turraea villosa

18.   Walsura: Walsura trifoliolata

19.   Xylocarpus: Xylocarpus granatum

 
It took me about 20 min to bring information in this format. But please remember Meliaceae is a smaller family in eFI.
Today we have more than 255 families, 2800 genera and more than 13000 species. Team work is the only option for developing checklist. This information (recent list) can be displayed in eFI on a separate page and it will take hardly less than 1MB space, though it will be very long. Older may be removed each year and archived in the form of email to the group. 
If ‘we’ can spare time such updated checklists can be developed each year with a situation as on 31 Dec. of each year or on any date which we feel suitable (like foundation day of eFI. 

Thanks, …
Let us do it for one family and see how it comes up.

I am making it for the families starting with the letter “M“, in the same format as in Meliaceae, posted by me.

If we do not include species which are not having pages in efloraofindia site, it may not be worthwhile, as we already have those details at Meliaceae

I think we can list all species reported from India and link only those (including those outside India we have in our database)  for which we have pages currently.

If we really have to list all species known in India and mark those which are present in eFI, it becomes an even more difficult task. In most of the genera pages we do not have a list of all species known in India. 
We may wait for BSI to publish a checklist of India (they are likely to publish it in near future). Then we will have a species list of each genus where species represented in eFI can be marked. 

I too support …, let us wait for a complete list of species yet to come for India,  otherwise we should voluntarily prepare one for us. 

I think we should have a compiled list that we own.

We have enough data with us and expertise, we should later proud of our self in having a compiled data of the information that we have. Data and pages will serve different purpose, I think. As … rightly point out we shall incorporate link (link to our pages) of each species, in the excel sheet itself.
When we wait for some other data ours would lie behind. 

A variation of Meliaceae … suggested, links can be introduced as and when species are are added on our website.

MELIACEAE (Represented in efi 19 Genera and 28 species)

1.      Aglaia: andamanica, apiocarpa, argentea, barberi, canariensis, chittagonga,

cucullata, edulis,   elaeagnoidea, exstipulate,  fusca, ganggo, glaucescens, haslettiana, indica, 

jainii, khasiana, lawii subsp. lawii, maiae, odorata, perviridis, simplicifolia, spectabilis, talbotii

       2.       Aphanamixis: polystachya,

       3.       Azadirachta: indica

       4.     Cedrella: odorata (cultivated)

       5.       Chisocheton: cumingianus subsp. balansae, nicobarinus

       6.       Chukrasia: tabularis

       7.       Cipadessa: baccifera

       8.       Dysoxylum: alliarium, andamanicum, arborescens, beddomei, binectariferum, densiflorum, fisiforme,

               gobarum, gotadhora, grande, malabaricum, microbotrys, pallens, racemosum, reticulatum, rugulosum, thyrsoideum,

       9.       Heynea: trijuga

      10.       Khaya: grandifoliola, senegalensis (Introduced)

      11.   Lansium: domesticum (Introduced)

      12.   Melia: azedarach, dubia

      13.   Munronia: pinnata

      14.   Naregamia: alata

      15. Reinwardtiodendron: anamalaiense

      16. Sandoricum: koetjape

      17.   Soymida: febrifuga

      18. Sphaerosacme: decandra

      19.   Swietenia: macrophylla, mahagoni (Introduced)

      20.   Toona: ciliata, fargesii, hainesii, , microcarpa, sinensis, sureni, ternatensis

      21.   Turraea: villosa

      22.   Walsura: candollei, hypoleuca, oxycarpa, perrottetii, robusta,  trifoliolata, tubulata

      23.   Xylocarpus: gangeticus, granatum, molluccensis 

Thanks, …
I have added this at the top at Meliaceae.
It can be added anywhere else also once it is ready (e.g. Giby ji can add it in an Excel sheet) and it can be compiled in a word document also and uploaded in our file section.

Sure, … I will do it as much as possible. 

I have started compiling data for family Ranunculaceae on the format given by …for Meliaceae, to which I had added species from India for linking in future when they are uploaded by any member in future. Garg ji has uploaded Meliaceae Data on our website.
     Since … is also working on it, let us finalize the format, so that there is no duplication of work, I can adjust my Ranunculaceae (and others in future) on format finally agreed by all.

I think if we can mention broad data of distribution like S. India, Himalayas, NE India, West Himalayas etc. for each, it will be wonderful. In such a case we will be aware at a glance that this posted species may or may not be available in the area we are looking for.

Some species may be endemic. It will be nice if we can mention the reported distribution area in a column.

Thank …

Which sources are you going to follow, Sir
I also wish to do something for efi. 

Along with BSI Flora, Regional floras, Online line resources like our efloraofindia, Flora of Peninsular India, efloras, online publications etc. may be examined.
I think we have already covered more than 80% of the species (over all average) in our genus pages.

Thank you, … I’ll also start with some family mist prevalent in North West Himalaya, where I have  interest.

I have published volumes of BSI Flora of India. I will start with them, beginning with Vol 1, as we proceed nomenclature is updated from Catalogue of Life, World Flora Online and Plants of the World Online. We link species on our database to respective pages, and also species we already have from outside India. We also add any latest additions from literature,

     The main question is where to add distribution, … I hope will come up with design. 

It can be done in either Excel sheet or Word, with columns as S.No., Family, Genus, Species, Accepted name, Distribution and Reference.
That is my suggestion.
Checklist of Tamilnadu followed the following format
S.No.  Family  Binomial  Common Name  English Name  Habit  Distribution  Notes  References
Distribution was given District wise. While in Notes, it was given like Western Ghats, Evergreen Forests or Western Ghats, Cultivated, Native of Mediterranean Region or Plains to Mid Altitude, Cultivated, Native of Tropical America etc. 
…, in tabular format do we need all three? Genus, Species, Accepted name
Once a genus has been listed, I don’t think we need to write Genus again for all its species, Accepted specific epithet is the only relevant entry. We can, however, have a column for listing major synonyms, especially used in FBI or other Indian Floras.   

Once a genus has been listed, I don’t think we need to write Genus again for all its species, – Yes

Accepted specific epithet is the only relevant entry- No. Many entry in BSI Flora of India may not be accepted anymore. So accepted names has to be given against such entries.

Adding further, if you feel Accepted names column may be left out.
In fact, if one feels that the name is not accepted, then it can be mentioned with Accepted names in the bracket or some similar solution.

…, we are not taking BSI as our accepted names, The names appearing in BSI Flora, FBI, other Indian Floras may be cited as synonyms. Our listing would be on the basis of latest taxonomic and Nomenclatural understanding as we have done in Meliaceae, and I am doing in Ranunculaceae.

And that is also the status on our efloraofindia website.

Here is the portion of Ranunculaceae which I have completed up to now. These are all accepted names for taxa in India, with links for those we have in our database, as well as we have from other parts of World. This is on the format devised by Rawat ji.
One option is we retain this format, as species pages already have detailed synonymy, regional names. We can add distribution details where missing. This should involve minimum more effort and maximum utilization of huge effort already made. 
     Let us arrive at consensus soon so that work can be carried forward by each contributor.  

RANUNCULACEAE (Represented in efi — Genera and — species) 

1.      Aconitum: assamicum, balfouri, chasmanthum, deinnorrhizum, elwesii, falconeri, ferox, fletcherianum, gammiei, gymnandrum, heterophylloides, heterophyllum, hookeri, kashmiricum, laciniatum, laeve, lethale, moschatum, nagarum, nakaoi, naviculare, novoluridum, palmatum, rotundifolium, soongoricum, spicatum, violaceum.

2.      Actaea: acuminata, cimicifuga, heraclifolia (Cult. USA), spicata var. acuminata .

3.      Adonis: aestivalis, chrysocyathus, davidii, nepalensis.

4.      Anemonastrum: demissum, elongatum, geum, obtusilobum subsp.obtusilobum, polyanthes, polycarpum, rupestre, smithianum, tetrasepalum, trullifolium.

5.      Anemone: biflora, blanda (Cult. USA), coronaria (cult.), griffithii, howellii, nemorosa (Europe), rauii, sylvestris (Cult. USA)?, tschernjaewii.

6.      Aquilegia: caerulea, flavescens (USA), formosa, fragrans, kareliniana, moorcroftiana, nivalis, publiflora, vulgaris (cult.),

7.      Asteropyrum: peltatum.

8.      Callianthemum: alatavicum, anemonoides, pimpinelloides.

9.      Caltha: leptosepala (USA), palustris, palustris var. alba, scaposa, sinogracilis.

10.   Ceratocephalus: falcatus, testiculatus.

11.   Clematis: acuminata, acutangula, andersonii, apiculata, barbellata, barbellata var. obtusa, bourdillonii, brachiata (Kenya), buchananiana, cadmia, connata, connata var. confusa, connata var. lanceolata, flammula (Cult.), fulvicoma, gouriana, grata, graveolens, grewiiflora, hedysarifolia, heracleifolia var, tubulosa, heynei, ladakhiana, lasiantha (Cult. USA), meyeriana, montana, munroiana, napaulensis, orientalis, puberula, roylei, smilacifolia, tangutica, terniflora, theobromina, tibetana, tongluensis, udayanii, viticella, wattii, wightiana, zemuensis, zeylanica.

12.   Consolida: ajacis, ambigua, orientalis, schlagintwetii.  

13.   Coptis: teeta.   

14.   Delphinium: altissimum, brunonianum, caeruleum, candelabrum, carolinianum, cashmerianum, densiflorum, denudatum, drepanocentrum, elatum (Cult.), glaciale, incisum, kamaonense, koelzii, kohatense, lacostei, ludlowii, malabaricum, nortonii, pyramidale, roylei, scabriflorum, stapeliosum, uncinatum, vestitum, viscosum.

15.   Dichocarpum: adiantifolium.

16.   Eriocapitella: hupehensis (Cult. Germany, USA), hybrida, rivularis, rupicola, vitifolia.

17.   Halerpestes: sarmentosa, tricuspis.

18.   Helleborus: lividus subsp. corsicus, niger, orientalis,

19.   Hepatica: falconeri.

Thanks, …,
That is fine.

We need to have our own dedicated website.
Website has to be interactive eg. list of green flowers or green flowers and Maharashtra, herb and flower = yellow and size < 10mm etc.
AI needs to be incorporated into the search. Can help.
Can keep free google website active also.

Thanks, …, for the idea.
Maybe we keep this in mind for future endeavours.

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