Digital Herbarium of Angiospermic Tree Speciesfrom Western Ghat Regions of Maharashtra

Abstract –
The present investigation reports a digital solution
to overcome limitations of traditional herbarium.
The data of tree species in the Western Ghat regions
of Maharashtra is presented in this paper. The
botanical information and digital photographs of
about 130 tree species from the Western Ghat regions
of Pune, Kolhapur, Thane, Satara, Sangali, Raigad
and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra were used
to build a searchable database to be made available
online at the dedicated website www.indianflora.
org. So far, the data of about 535 tree species which
include 43 endemic to Western Ghats and 7 rare
species has been recorded.
Keywords : Digital herbarium, Digital images,
Endemic plants, Maharashtra, Plant systematics,
Western Ghats
I. Introduction
The term herbarium, used in the strictest sense
today, is a collection of preserved plant specimens.
The importance of herbarium as a teaching, learning
resource has been established from time to time in
colleges, universities and research institutions as well.
Every institution concerned with Plant Sciences has
a collection of such herbarium specimens. The plant
species represented in such collections are usually
collected during the field visits organized by the
institutes and also from the personal collection. These
herbarium specimens are usually from the local areas
and are easily accessible only to the researchers of
the adjoining areas. Furthermore, these are physical
specimens and therefore demands sufficiently large,
dedicated and well equipped infrastructure. It also
demands recurrent expenses on manpower required
to maintain such herbaria and for preserving these
specimens in acceptable conditions.