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A herbarium is a collection of
preserved plants or plant parts, mainly in dried form. These specimens are
often used as reference material to define a plant taxon.
Users of traditional herbarium
include Taxonomists, Conservation scientists, students and educators.
Because of their restriction in institutions or folders, they usually remain
hidden on a global scale. In order to promote its existence and to bring
this glory to each eye, the concept of Digital Herbarium has gained the
momentum world wide.
The ‘Digital Herbarium’
incorporates internet and digital photography technologies to provide an
analogous online access. Our main goal is to provide a user friendly
information with efficient and easy to use data access via the web.
By publishing the
data we will:
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Provide useful
information (data and images) without requiring users to physically visit
each herbarium
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Increase 'walk
in' traffic by giving users a preview of the data before they arrive, and
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Support access
regardless of user's botanical skill level.
In an attempt to
start this venture, we have selected only one district (District Jammu) and
selected 150 plants species, depending upon their phytosociological
dominance in the region. The plants are categorized on the basis of their
life forms and are represented with their vernaculars, technical description
and ethnobotanical uses. The description is based on published references
and are confirmed by personal observations. The digital image library shall
reveal the morphological description of the plant.
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