Indian Virtual Herbarium, biggest database of country’s flora, is a global hit

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Last Updated08/08/2022

Indian Virtual Herbarium, the biggest virtual database of flora in the country which has details of about one lakh plant specimens is turning out to be an eye-catching endeavour.

Herbarium specimens are considered important tools for plant taxonomy, conservation, habitat loss and even climate change.
Indian Virtual Herbarium is an example of how digital tools can help us connect to our roots.
The virtual herbarium presents a rich botanical diversity of the country.
Developed by scientists of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).
It was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Environment Forest and Climate Change.

Each record in the digital herbarium includes an image of the preserved plant specimen, scientific name, collection locality, collection date, collector name, and barcode number.
It includes features to extract the data State-wise, and users can search plants of their own States, which will help them identify regional plants and in building regional checklists.
The portal includes about one lakh images of herbarium specimens.

The Indian Virtual Herbarium is deeply linked with the botanical history of the country.
The portal provides the most valuable historical collections of botanists like William Roxburgh, Nathaniel Wallich and Joseph Dalton Hooker, considered the founding fathers of botany in India.
It has some of the oldest botanical specimens dating as early as 1696.
The oldest type specimen Lepidagathis scariosa was collected in 1817 by Robert Wight.
Type specimens are those collections that help in new discoveries and are considered of great significance by botanists and taxonomists.
Researchers need to examine the types of names in order to confirm their identities.
As a priority, the Indian Virtual Herbarium has digitised information with images of 29,615 type specimens on its platform.