FERNS AND FERN ALLIES OF THE WESTERN GHATS SOUTH INDIA

     


XAVIER’S COLLEGE HERBARIUM (XCH) Digital Herbarium








             The Department of Botany was started in 1970. The Department offers B.Sc., M.Sc., M.Phil., and Ph.D., programmes. It has grown in reputation and has become a recognized Centre for research in the fields of Angiosperm Taxonomy, Pteridology, Microbiology, Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry, and frontier areas of Biotechnology such as Tissue culture and Plant Molecular Biology. The Department is a recipient of FIST I and II from the DST. The Department has produced more than 75 Ph.Ds., 65 M.Phils., and completed 25 major projects funded by different funding agencies such as UGC, DST, MoEn, CSIR, DBT and TNSCST. The Department has conducted a number of National Conferences, Symposia, Seminars, Workshops and a Refresher Course in Biotechnology.

VISION:

            To be the premier institute for developing and nurturing competent professionals in Botany.

MISSION:

            To develop professionally qualified and competent individuals primarily through education, training, examination, consultancy and community development.

OBJECTIVES:

            To facilitate study of theory and practice To provide continuous professional development To promote and undertake research relating to problems affecting the local community vision of high quality teaching supported with well equipped laboratory, through constant addition of new equipments and ensuring that the stakeholders’ requirements are met. The Department is firmly committed to continually enhancing teaching, research and extension activities towards total satisfaction of all the stakeholders by consistent provision of high quality teaching supported with well-equipped laboratory, through constant addition of new equipments and ensuring that the stakeholders’ requirements are met. We strive to achieve our objectives fully conforming to the Quality Assurance System, with the establishment and periodic review of our objective realized through the involvement of our dedicated faculty. We also continually assess and enhance the curriculum by constant interaction with the experts to achieve maximum satisfaction. We make constant efforts for innovation through research and extension activities for increasing and upgrading the skills of our students.

THE HERBARIUM

             The herbarium is recognized by the International Association of Plant Taxonomists (IAPT) and the acronym is (SXC). The herbarium contains nearly 35000 specimens belonging to Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms. The Xavier’s College Herbarium (XCH) in the Centre for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, St. Xavier’s College is committed since 1984, in documenting pteridophyte diversity with a view to document the Pteridophyte wealth of the country, in particular of the Western Ghats. Xavier’s College Herbarium houses with a fairly large collection of native and naturalized pteridophytes, collected by Fr. Manickam, Dr. Irudayaraj and their coworkers. This herbarium is recognized internationally by the acronym ‘XCH’. The collection consists of more than 35000 specimens from approximately 1500 flowering plant species, 15 gymnosperms and 300 ferns and allies. The collection is richest in species from the Western Ghats situated in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka and with some additions from the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and few from the eastern Himalayas. The significant collection is the several hundred specimens from the forests of the Western Ghats, an area not well represented in most South Indian herbaria.

IDENTIFICATION

             The names of the species were correctly identified authenticated by the specialists world over all the species and the names are available in the herbarium labels; however due to the revisionary work by the experts and deep insights while comparing the specimens of the neighbouring countries available in the national and international herbaria, nomenclatural changes have occurred. In order to give the correct name recent literatures have been incorporated to the best of known knowledge. All the herbarium specimens were carefully examined for its correct identity.

DIGITAL IMAGES

             The digital images of the herbarium are prepared by taking photographs using Canon 1200D digital SLR camera. Digitized at a minimum resolution of 300 to 800 dpi, the herbarium specimens (all Vouchers) are displayed for every species. The digital images of live specimens of most species (if not, will be added in due course) provided as important information synergy.

LINE DRAWINGS

             Accurately drawn, true-to-the specimen line drawings depicting the following features are portrayed for all the species. The diagrams are taken from the book ‘Pteridophytic Flora of the Western Ghats- South India’

DESCRIPTION AND ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES

             The morphological and taxonomic descriptions of species and key to genera and species and reproduced from the book ‘Pteridophytic Flora of the Western Ghats- South India’

CREATION OF DATABASE AND COMPONENTS OF DATABASE

             The information content of the plant database is largely built on the Voucher Specimens in the herbarium. The taxonomic data portrayed on each species include all information presented on the herbarium specimen label, namely, species name, author citation, sub-species if any, variety if any, family, subfamily, collection number, locations, date of collection, habitat and the collector’s name. The database further features detailed species description, citation of the ‘Pteridophytic Flora of the Western Ghats- South India’ in which it is described, nomenclature updates as per Index Filicum, phenology, species distribution, threat status and comments on any special features of the taxa. The arrangement of ferns and fern allies followed in the database is on the lines proposed by Jarret, F.M. (Kew), Nov.1971, after R.E. Holttum in Willis ed.7 and Family sequence as in Pichi-Sermolli, Univ. Aress, 1958(6)70-90. Digitized at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, the herbarium specimens (all Vouchers) are displayed for almost every species. The digital images of live specimens of most species (will be added in due course) provided in the database form an important information synergy. Accurately drawn, true-to-the specimen line drawings depicting the following features are portrayed in the database for a good many species. A gallery of photographs of live specimens is displayed that allows species to be identified by browsing images. Each image is hyperlinked to the corresponding species web page. Alphabetically-sorted species names, both botanical and vernacular and family lists allow users to browse by species name and family, respectively. The website provides basic and advanced search capabilities. Text entered in basic search is searched in all fields of the herbarium database whereas the advanced search allows text to be searched in one or more fields (for example, genus, threat status, or common name, cytology, ethnobotanical uses). A comment widget allows users to report corrections or provide feedback. 

  ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR THE APPROPRIATE USE AND MANIPULATION OF SCIENTIFIC DIGITAL IMAGES

             Digital imaging has provided scientists with new opportunities to acquire and manipulate data using techniques that were difficult or impossible to employ in the past. Because digital images are easier to manipulate than film images, new problems have emerged. One growing concern in the scientific community is that digital images are not being handled with sufficient care. The problem is twofold: (1) the very small, yet troubling, number of intentional falsifications that have been identified, and (2) the more common unintentional, inappropriate manipulation of images for publication. Journals and professional societies have begun to address the issue with specific digital imaging guidelines. Unfortunately, the guidelines provided often do not come with instructions to explain their importance. Thus they deal with what should or should not be done, but not the associated 'why' that is required for understanding the rules. There should be proper guidelines for scientific digital image manipulation. These guidelines should be incorporated into appropriate forums in order to provoke discussion and begin to bring an end to the culture of "data beautification".