About
Over the past century, biodiversity across the globe has been
subjected to extreme pressure due to habitat change, over – exploitation,
invasion by alien species and more importantly climate change and pollution. According
to Gadgil (1996), only 2, 50, 000 plant species are known out of estimated 13.6
million species of plants and animals. Among these only few is very well
studied due to its importance to humans, and the remaining species are growing
wild in different parts of the world.
More than fifty percent of the world’s tropical trees have been cut
down in the past fifty years. With continued habitat loss, and mass extinction,
many believe that already the damage is too harsh to repair. Still, although
there are only approximately 250,000 to 400,000 species of flowering plants and
trees remaining on earth and under the sea, they still hold an enormous library
of nature’s technologies.
There are no globally agreed definitions for a ‘tree’. We use the
same word to refer to the smallest tree in the world Salix herbaceae L., and to its counterpart Sequoidendron giganteum Lindl. J. Buchholz, the most voluminous
living tree.
For ease of classification, scientists have been tried to narrow
down the concept of a ‘tree’. According to Mora 2005, “Forest trees are woody
plants that have a well-developed stem and usually are more than twelve feet in
height, at maturity”. To horticulturists, a ‘Tree’ is defined as having a
single stem, more than twenty feet tall, which branches at some distance above
ground, whereas, a shrub has multiple stem from the ground, and is less than
twenty feet tall. This is a convenient for those writing tree identification
books, who wish to limit the number of species they must include.
Floristic inventory and diversity assessments are necessary to
understand the present diversity status and conservation of forest, plane and
coastal biodiversity. Although inventory and diversity studies are taken up at
different levels all over the world by various research groups with available
resources and to fill the gap in the biodiversity knowledge, there are
variations in sampling methods/techniques, which are being followed in
floristic inventory and diversity measurements.
Natural resources survey like floristic study play an important role
in the economic development of developing country like India. Vegetation is the
most precious gift, nature has provided to us as meeting all kinds of essential
requirements of the humans in the form of food, fodder, fuel, medicine, timber,
resins and oil etc. Plants communities play a pivotal role in sustainable
management by maintain biodiversity and conserving the environment. Rapid
industrialization and its attendant pollution and over-exploitation of raw
plant materials are some of the causes for the disappearance of the many
plants.
Floristic study and diversity assessments are necessary to
understand the present diversity status and conservation of biodiversity.
Floristic study is a necessary prerequisite for much fundamental research in
tropical community ecology, such as modelling patterns of species diversity or
understanding species distributions. Floristic studies acquire increasing
importance in recent years in response to the need of developing and under
developing countries to assess their plant wealth. Many floristic diversity
studies have been conducted in different parts of world. Thus, it is clear that
floristic studies are undertaken by many researchers worldwide in different levels.
Intensive plant explorations of any region are prerequisites for a
detailed botanical account of that region. The urgent need that compel for
detailed botanical account of several regions all over the world, in general
are mainly due to the alarming rate at which several of the plant are vanishing
from many region of the earth. Much of our valuable biodiversity is likely to
be lost before it is properly documented.
Plants have always been useful to man. The need for economic surveys
of the natural resources is often emphasized for a proper utilization of raw
materials in a developing country like India. It is essential to prepare local
floras of urban areas where there is severe threat to natural vegetation due to
biotic interference and pollution. The present study area of Kerala Raj Bhavan,
is selected for the tree floristic studies because it has not been given
attention to its vegetation. The knowledge of the plant community is a prerequisite
to understand the overall structure and function of ecosystem.
The tree floristic study of Kerala Raj Bhavan, is a representative
of the flora of the plains of Thiruvanathapuram district. Most of the floristic
documentation done in forest and ignored the vegetation of the plains.
Population explosion, urbanization, industrialization etc. is leads to the
destruction of several plants in the plains. The present study was undertaken
to project the plant wealth to guide the students of botany and research
workers in various other fields of botany, and druggists and pharmacists for
correct identification and current names of plants in the area. Finally to
provide a typical representative floristic documentation of Kerala Raj Bhavan,
Thiruvananthapuram.
Kerala Raj Bhavan is
the official residence of the Governor of Kerala. It is situated a little away
from the bustle of the city, near Vellayambalam Junction on the Kowdiar road,
Thiruvananthapuram. This 12 hectare stretch of lush greenery is sylvan
sanctuary for birds, where dignitaries, national as well as international, find
a true home away from home. Kerala Raj Bhavan stands within handshake distance
from the Kowdiar Palace, from where the Maharajah of Travancore once ruled and
where his descendants still live.
When the State of Kerala was born in 1956, there
were three Raj Bhavans – the State Government Guest House at Trivandrum, the
Bolghatty Palace at Ernakulam, and the Palace at Devicolam, which was the
summer resort of the Governor. Later on, the Bolghatty Palace and the Devicolam
Palace were transferred to the Public Works Department and the Tourism
Department respectively.
Originally built as the
Guest House of Travancore State, the oldest building in the Raj Bhavan compound
could not accommodate the guests and the various offices of the Kerala Raj
Bhavan. So extensions and additions to the mother building were
made. Built in the Kerala traditional
style, the main building of the Raj Bhavan has certain architectural features such
as high ceiled, spacious rooms with large windows and doors, with a tinge of
Victorian finish. Constructed atop a breezy hillock, it is surrounded by
sprawling meadows, velvety lawns, green houses with many species of Anthurium,
Orchid, etc. There is also an enchanting fountain at the centre of the
main lawn facing the office room of the Governor.
With an area of 3.24
hectares, Raj Bhavan Gardens is the centre of attraction to the visitors.The
trimmed grass gives the lawn a look of a green carpet spread out, and the
artificial water fall, and the three greenhouses add to the charm of the
gardens. The beautiful statues brought in from Mayiladi,
near Sucheendram, Tamil Nadu and placed at
appropriate points contribute to the charm of the Kerala Raj Bhavan Gardens.
There are also two impressive Band Stands built in regal style, besides a
Children's Park, Tennis Court and a Shuttle Court on the premise.
Also situated in the
campus are the 71 Quarters for the Officers and Staff of Kerala Raj Bhavan, Raj
Bhavan Dispensary, Office of the Electrical Wing and the Raj Bhavan Employees
Co-operative Society. There is a post office exclusively for Raj Bhavan named
“The Kerala Governor’s Camp Post Office”, where there are facilities for
sending speed post, telegrams etc.
About a few kilometers
from the Raj Bhavan is the Museum Complex, consisting of the Napier Museum,
Sree Chithra Art Gallery, Zoological park; Kanakakkunnu Palace and Nishagandhi
auditorium, Science and Technology Museum, Priyadarshini Planetarium and
Biotechnology Museum, Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, The Government Secretariat
etc.
Digitization of Flora through
QR Code method
QR codes or Quick-Response Codes are easily readable two-dimensional
barcodes that when scanned with a QR decoder can translate the code into a URL
(Uniform Resource Locator). It allows to encode over 4000 characters in a two
dimensional barcode. Popularity of QR codes has increased exponentially now a
day with the technological advancement.
QR linking is an emerging field of barcoding; however the best way to
link specimens to databases and other materials is still under discussion. Some
other options include Unique Specimen Identifiers (USI), Globally Unique
Identifiers (GUIDs) and Life Science Identifiers (LSIDs). Currently one of the
most frequently used methods is Barcoding. This method was implemented in
biological collections in the 1990s at INBio and the Smithsonian Institution
(Janzen 1992, Thompson 1994). QR codes were originally invented in 1994 by a
Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave Incorporated, in order for storing more
information.
QR codes have nine standard features (Denso Wave Incorporated 2013):
1. Capacity to handle different types of data: numeric and alphabetic
characters, Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana, symbols, binary and control codes.
2. Large capacity: up to 7,089 numeric and 4,296 alphanumeric characters
can be encoded (hundreds of times more than in a barcode).
3. Small printout size: the same information can be encoded in a QR code
one-tenth smaller than a barcode.
4. High speed scan: omni-directionally readable, with position detection
patterns circumventing the negative effects of background interference.
5. Universal standardization: AIM International Standard, Japanese
Industrial Standard and ISO International Standard (ISO/IEC18004).
6. Dirt and damage error correction: QR codes allow a maximum of 30% of
damage without losing information.
7. Compartmentalization: QR codes can be divided into multiple data
areas (as many as 16), allowing smaller printouts.
8. Flexible representation: shapes and colours of modules can be
changed, even allowing for artistic representations (QR code Art).
9. Readability: QR codes can be read by any Smartphone, tablet or laptop
with a camera, using freely available software.
QR code linking have immense applications in various fields like
commercial tracking, transport and entertainment ticketing, visa and passport
information, libraries, education etc.
Website was
created as a Blog through Google Blogger (www.blogger.com). QR codes for
each plant species were created using authenticated software like www.qrstuff.com. Any person who
are interested in Trees of Kerala Raj Bhavan can assess the blog freely; with
website link - https://tressofkeralarajbhavan.
blogspot.com/. In blog each plant species
were recorded in separate pages with unique URL. QR code for each plant species
was generated by linking the specific URL, with the help of online software
QRStuff.com.
