| Herbarium |
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| DU - 10 |
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| Group Leader |
Dr. Tariq Husain, Sci 'EI' ( Revision
of Ixora, Berberis and Pedicularis; floristic
studies on the Gangetic plain including aquatic flora; and
Biodiversity assessment) |
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Contact |
Work |
91-522-2205832 Ext.
230 |
| Home |
91-522-
2769025 |
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Group works on
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- Development and maintenance of a standard Herbarium
- Inventorization and identification of plant resources of
the Country
- Loan and exchange of herbarium specimens with other Institutions
- Biodiversity Assessments
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Objectives
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To develop and maintain a Herbarium as
a National Facility.
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Survey, collection, identification and
documentation of the floristic wealth of the country.
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To maintain active links with other institutions
by way of Loan and Exchange of Herbarium specimens and related
literature.
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To develop Computer based databases on
plant resources.
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To undertake floristic and revisionary
studies on Indian taxa of flowering plants.
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To study and monitor the rare and endangered
species in conservation perspectives.
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The National Botanical Research Institute maintains a Herbarium
as one of the national facilities. Herbarium is a place where
pressed and dried plant specimens collected from far and wide
are preserved according to some internationally recognized system
along with abundant first-hand field data about plants. Being
the largest herbarium under CSIR system and internationally
recognized with its acronym LWG, it is great filing system for
information about plants, both primarily in the form of actual
specimens of plants and secondarily in the form of published
information, pictures and recorded notes catering the needs
of students, teachers, scientists, foresters, and other plant-based
professionals. The Herbarium of NBRI today holds 2,25,000 specimens
of which 93,144 are of angiosperms, 1,05,000 specimens of lichens,
about 3,000 of pteridophytes, 10,000 of bryophytes and 500 of
gymnosperms. In addition, 16,000 carpological collections from
various parts of country are also preserved. The herbarium of
the Institute also possesses 240 Type specimens and 300 Type
photographs.
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The Herbarium serves
one and all in the country with basic information on correct identity
and nomenclature of taxa, distribution and abundance of taxa in
a given region and their utilities.
The herbarium is enriched by new collections by the team of scientists
attached to it. Specialists of all groups, viz. flowering plants,
lichens, algae and all others are involved in a number of research
activities which also aim at enrichment of the Herbarium.
The Scientists attached to the Herbarium offer a variety of consultancy
services to professionals from various walks and industries, mostly
the plant-based ones. The services include providing first-hand
information on the identity and diversity assessments on the species
of interest, economic utility, wild relatives of cultivated species,
nativity and distribution status of species etc.
There are approximately a little over 100 research papers in standard
journals over the last 5 years, published by the scientists of this
group.
During recent past, we have successfully completed two major projects
under an international collaboration, one on Phyllanthus
with the Centre for Medical Innovations, Munich, Germany and the
other on Glycine and maize with Monsanto, India. So far a
number of exploration tours have been conducted to the various parts
of the country for detailed inventorying and documentation of the
flora. In particular, the Biodiversity Assessment of Tons Valley,
in Garhwal Himalaya, Rajaji National Park, Corbett Tiger Reserve,
Dudhwa National park, Valley of Flowers and other phytogeographically
interesting areas like Netarhat in Bihar and few districts of Jammu
& Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh , Orissa and Uttar Pradesh have been
accomplished. Several projects on the taxa-specific Biodiversity
assessments for example revisionary studies on genera Ixora, Clematis,
Podophyllum, Berberis, Pedicularis, Astragalus and revision on family Oleaceae have been
successfully completed. The taxonomic revisions completed have International
relevance and help in revision of the group globally. These studies
have led to a large number of publications in the recent past.
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On Going Activities
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- Maintenance and development of the herbarium.
- Floristic survey and assessment of biodiversity (Flora) of
Bhimbetka Forest in Ratapani Sanctuary of Raisen District (Madhya
Pradesh).
- Studies on the biological resources and documentation of
traditional knowledge on Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve, Madhya
Pradesh and Chattisgarh.
- Assessment of genetic diversity on lesser
known/under-utilized wild edible plant resources of Gangetic
plains and their ex-situ conservation.
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Feed Back Required
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- Current awareness of the literature regarding the discovery
of new taxa as well new records
- Details of the availability of the type specimens in various
herbaria of the world
- Current publication on the plant taxonomy
- Access to the Database on published illustrations of plants
worldwide
- Details of availability of experts on various taxa.
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