Thats a nice point being put up by Dr. Aparna ji!! Thing is nothing could be confirmed just from the pics, its not just the grasses or sedges. If I reply on any plant, it may look like I am replying abruptly, but its not so. Yeah sometimes I do get confused so I tend to misidentify but that way I get to learn. Why I identified that, and where was my mistake, it really helps me in learning more. Infact, one of my greatguru, Dr. T. K. Ghosh (student of Dr. P. Maheshwari) told me never to identify a plant in the field. Just study it and keep it with u.
The main problem here is, how many of you have an access to the microscope to check if there is a pappus or hair inside the flower on the filament or not......good god, they missed seeing if the hairs were multicellular or unicellular; branched or unbranched!!! But yeah, digital photography is not enough, it just shows the external details of a plant, but some families do need to be checked for some key characters lying inside the flower. Try your luck with any of the Asteraceae or Poaceae member, how good pic of pappus can u get!!! CLOSEUP SHOTS FROM A DIGITAL CAMERA DOESNT HELP MUCH AT MOST OF THE TIMES. This is just an example. I dont think I have ever seen a person sharing a pic of dissected flower ever! Some times I do ask for a better pic or dissected flower, as today I did for Curcuma mutabilis. If I am not confirm myself, then I answer a post that way only otherwise, I confirm it with a affirmative. If u ask a grass expert he will say grasses are too easy but orchids are too tough, if u ask a orchid expert, then he will say orchids are too easy, grasses are too tough!!! I think the better way will be to explain, how u identified that particular plant from the pic rather than just giving the name. But there are many people including me who are not a professional taxonomist to explain how they reached to the genus or species of that particular plant? Trust me when I say, I can confirm a plant that its an orchid in the field by touching....I dont know how but it is the fact. Another example, how many of u ever dissected a Ficus fruit to confirm the id? but you know Ficus religiosa is religiosa and hispida is hispida!! yet another example, in Eucalyptus you have to see the angle between two cotyledons to confirm, how many of you ever tried that? I think this is a community where most of the members are not taxonomist and most of them including me are not professional taxonomist either. So their should be a way to address both groups. Its like if I am giving a determinative but unable to explain, then a professional taxonomist can provide an explanation to it. Otherwise many people wont even give it a try in identifying a plant, THOUGH IT HAS BEEN STATED BY APARNA JI, THAT IT IS NOT TO DISCOURAGE PEOPLE. And yes, we usually dont dissect an herbarium specimen unless we have special permission and unless we are doing some monographic study!! But who will confirm that the determinative attached to a herbarium sheet is correct, though they might be given by experts??? Recently, I got an opportunity to typify some sheets (types of four species) kept at K and LINN. The determinative was given by one of the great orchidologist of his time. I was kind of scared whether should I correct it or not, but I did just because I knew I was correct!! Offcourse, I know Dr. Yadav, and I know he has a great knowledge of plant taxonomy. It would really be great if he is here and is an active member and there are many others too who can offcourse help in many ways. I would have preferred that: 1. Members should think before giving names, but they should be free to give it, not abruptly though. 2. Experts are always there to correct it if others are wrong. 3. Experts should also be encouraged to give an explanation about the identification as well as when they are making corrections. This is still open for discussion I believe...................... --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiantreepix" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
