Wonderful Minguel! I now know why its called a shoe flower. A digital Herbarium on Goan plants would be great! Perhaps you could get some funding from the Goa tourism dept as well as other organizations. With your knowledge and a good programmer (Fred's Free Linux pundits!) you could go a great job. I worked with some education and outreach people to develop a CD that showcases temperate phytoplankton. It was funded by NASA and has tons of photos and a search engine which helps you to choose a species based on morphology, toxicity, habit etc. If you send me a mailing address I could mail it to you and perhaps it would help you in your efforts to develop the CD. Regards Helga
----- Original Message ----- From: Miguel Braganza Dear Joe, You had me foxed for sometime. Actually quite a few flowering plants in your album are exotic plants that are grown in Goa, including the Hawaiian hibiscus. This species originated in China. Hence the botanical name Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. It is called a shoe flower because the petals were used to blacken the shoes. Works well as a hair dye, too.