Dear members, It's heartening to reiterate that *Efloraofindia* <https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/indiantreepix>* is the largest google e-group/ forum in the world *in this field & the largest nature related e-group (and the most constructive) in India with around 2,90,000 messages so far & membership currently around 2970 nos.
efloraofindia (eFI in short) website <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/home> is one of the biggest non-commercial site, one of its kind in the world & also without advertisements, based on the collection of photographic images of wild plants, where no money or professional organisation is involved except for the selfless efforts of its members from diverse backgrounds. It is documenting flora of India that is being discussed on efloraofindia google e-group <http://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix> along with supplementing the working of the group.* It also has the largest database on net on Indian Flora with more than 12,000 species (along with more than 2,50,000 pictures)*, from some of the best Flora Photographers of India. Members should add Efloraofindia <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/home> website <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/home> link in their favourites & give species’ links from this while posting or replying in a thread as lot of discussed data is already available here. Intent of this website is compilation of all the posts on 'efloraofindia' e- group along with providing other details so that it’s useful to all concerned as all the data about a particular species will be available under a single head & *easily searchable*. However, correctness of data/ identification in the efloraofindia (earlier indiantreepix) links is dependent on the members’ inputs in that particular link. Therefore, errors/ mistakes cannot be ruled out-everyone is requested to point them out for corrections by sending an e-mail to <itpm...@googlegroups.com>. Efloraofindia e-group members can also add comments about it after 'signing in' at the bottom of the page. Surfing efi has become much easier with subpage listings <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/indiantreepix/6IzqedrJNzE>. Members are now allowed to insert images in efi site <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/indiantreepix/b-pOaDL70Vk> from efi e-group discussions. There has been tremendous response to this initiative & we hope to complete having pictures to all species pages within 31.3.18. We have simultaneously started displaying these at genera & family pages with comparative images of various species for easy identification. Insertion of images will also increase the accuracy of efloraofindia database <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/indiantreepix/6zAgQd5DD3s>. 2016 was declared as efi Year of insertion of images <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/indiantreepix/eooZJFNVge0> and more than 60,000 unique images have already been inserted. More important is the fact that thousands of observations of hundreds of our members are available here (many of which one will not find documented anywhere) & easily searchable through general web searches (after adding efloraofindia) as well as by searching in the Efloraofindia <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/home> website <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/home>. And these are going to increase with every passing day. These original observations will be a treasure trove & will a delight to a lot of people. With the pace at which new species are being added to our database, it should become the premier resource for taxonomic research in India. As the data is multiplying, we need more volunteers to take up this work. Details can be seen at Volunteers required <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/volunteers-required/volunteers-required>. For better viewing of species' pages, colour scheme & formatting is being followed as at the footer of every efloraofindia page. These days a lot of inf. about Indian Flora is available under Cc-by license <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_licenses> (Licensees may copy, distribute, display and perform the work and make derivative works based on it only if they give the author or licensor the credits in the manner specified by these). Due credits/ attributions are to be given. Such sources include Wikipedia, India Biodiversity Portal, IUCN Red List, PFAF, Flora of Tibet website, IBIS Flora etc. I am trying to add such inf. with due credits. I am also trying to add keys & summarizing the information at the top of the page (for the pages I am coming across while adding information from current threads). Genera pages are also cleaned up so that species (due to wrong botanical names or being syn. of some other species) are deleted or properly connected as per the current accepted name along with references. Future eFI genera pages will be like *Cyanotis* <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/species/a---l/cl/commelinaceae/cyanotis> depending upon the time I get as & when I update a genus page so that we are aware which are the species which are likely to be found in India (depending on the net resources) & which are already available in eFI. Kudos & thanks to The Pillars <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/about-us/pillars-of-efloraofindia>, Subject/ Area Experts <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/about-us/subject-experts>, Moderators <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/about-us/moderators>, Major contributors <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/about-us/major-contributors> & other members who are rendering selfless service on the group & made this endeavour possible for the benefit of everyone. -- With regards, J.M.Garg 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1> Winner of Wipro-NFS Sparrow Awards 2014 for efloraofindia <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/award-for-efloraofindia>. For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/indiantreepix> (largest in the world- around 2800 members & 2,65,000 messages on 31.3.17) or Efloraofindia website <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/> (with a species database of more than 12,000 species & 2,50,000 images). The whole world uses my Image Resource <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg> of more than a thousand species & eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise). You can also use them for free as per Creative Commons license attached with each image. Also author of 'A Photoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of India'. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to indiantreepix+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to indiantreepix@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
