12. HERBARIUM
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Herbarium at the Centre for Ecological Sciences houses the
specimens collected by various researchers under the guidance of
Prof. Cecil J. Saldanha, who is one of the well known
taxonomists of India. This herbarium houses species belonging to
geographical territory of Karnataka state and Nilgiri Biosphere
Reserve. It has an extensive collection of flowering plants
belonging to above mentioned places.
Karnataka, one of the states in the peninsula presents a
wide geographical and climatic variations. This diversity has
resulted in a wide variety of vegetational formations through
coastal vegetation, tropical evergreen forest in the wetter areas
to dry thorny and scrub vegetation in the drier areas.
The herbarium has a collection of about 14,000 sheets of
specimens belonging to 3400 native or naturalized flowering plant
species distributed among 141 dicot and 29 monocot families. This
covers all the 19 districts of Karnataka. Each sheet gives the
information about locality, habitat and brief ecological
information of the plant and has a separate field number which
can be cited in the research publication.
This herbarium is recognized by the code name "JCB".
Collections in the families such as Scrophulariaceae, Orchidaceae
and Poaceae are extensive and well represented.
As a part of the research program we are also making
collections of plants. It is expected that collections will cover
about 3500 species of flowering plants spread over 200 families.
A well documented herbarium of the Mudumalai Wildlife
Sanctuary is maintained at Nilgiris field station, Masinagudi.
Apart from this, we also have a few collections of flowering
plants from France, a few collections of Gymnosperms and
Pteridophytes from Karnataka and Nilgiris. Many research scholars
who are engaged in doing the revision of the flora are constantly
interacting with the herbarium. Interactions with scientists from
other institutions are welcome.
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