45. Efloraofindia website updated upto 30th Sept.’14

It’s heartening to reiterate that Efloraofindia is the largest google e-group/ forum in the world in this field & the largest nature related e-group (and the most constructive) in India with more than 2,02,000 messages so far & membership currently at more than 2425 nos.

Efloraofindia website has now been updated upto 30th Sept.’14 along with completion of resurfacing work upto this date.It has the largest database on net on Indian Flora with more than 2,00,000 pictures of more than 10,000 species. Members should add Efloraofindia website link in their favourites & give species’ links from this while posting or replying in a thread as lot of discussed data is already available here.

Intent of this website is compilation of all the posts on ‘efloraofindia‘ e- group along with providing other details so that it’s useful to all concerned as all the data about a particular species will be available under a single head & easily searchable. However, correctness of data/ identification in the efloraofindia (earlier indiantreepix) links is dependent on the members’ inputs in that particular link. Therefore, errors/ mistakes cannot be ruled out-everyone is requested to point them out for corrections by sending an e-mail to <itpmods@googlegroups.com>. Efloraofindia e-group members can also add comments about it after ‘signing in’ at the bottom of the page.

More important is the fact that thousands of observations of hundreds of our members are available here (many of which one will not find documented anywhere) & easily searchable through general web searches (after adding efloraofindia) as well as by searching in the Efloraofindia website. And these are going to increase with every passing day. These original observations will be a treasure trove & will a delight to a lot of people. With the pace at which new species are being added to our database, it should become the premier resource for taxonomic research in India. As the data is multiplying, we need more volunteers to take up this work. Details can be seen at Volunteers required.

For better viewing of species’ pages, colour scheme & formatting is being followed as below while editing any pages in future:

Description of the species, Details of other flora species on the same page, Details of other than flora species on the same page, Uses/harms, Distribution/Abundance/Location, Habit & Habitat, Etymology& pronunciation, Other Interesting Information, stories etc., Others, Botanical names, Common names, Main point of discussion below, Discussion about botanical names.

These days a lot of inf. about Indian Flora is available under Cc-by license (Licensees may copy, distribute, display and perform the work and make derivative works based on it only if they give the author or licensor the credits in the manner specified by these). Due credits/ attributions are to be given. Such sources include Wikipedia, India Biodiversity Portal, IUCN Red List, PFAF, Flora of Tibet website etc. I am trying to add such inf. with due credits. I am also trying to add keys & summarizing the information at the top of the page (for the pages I am coming across while adding information from current threads). Genera pages are also cleaned up so that species (due to wrong botanical names or being syn. of some other species) are deleted or properly connected as per the current accepted name along with references. Future eFI genera pages will be like Cyanotis depending upon the time I get as& when I update a genus page so that we are aware which are the species which are likely to be found in India (depending on the net resources) & which are already available in eFI.

Monthly family fortnights organized by Dr. Gurcharan Singh among others have become a great source of information for efloraofindiawebsite. Lots of family experts, from inside as well as outside, are contributing their expertise during these fortnights.

Kudos & thanks to The Pillars, Moderators, Major contributors & other members who are rendering selfless service on the group & made this endeavour possible for the benefit of everyone.