|
About this website |
 |
|||||||||
|
The book entitled the ‘Database of
Medicinal Plants’ contained information emanating out of about fifteen
years of research effort on medicinal plants from my lab, at the
Department of Botany, Bangalore University. The major financial support
for the work came from the Department of Forests, Environment and
Ecology (DFEE), Government of Karnataka. The book was published by the
Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST), for the DFEE,
in May 2000, and was being distributed free of cost, mainly to
institutions. In view of the extensive demand for the copies of the book
from a very large number of individuals and institutions interested in
Indian medicinal plants, the DFEE accepted and financially supported the
proposal to place the book on the Internet.
This Website contains material of about 500 pages, of the entire
book. A ‘Glossary of Medical Terms’, prepared for this website with
the assistance of Ms B L Geetha, is added to it. The current Internet
scripting facilities are not kindly to Italics. Preferring readability,
the convention of italicising biological names and non-English words,
was sacrificed, particularly in the Appendices, much to my continued
discomfort. The book contained the shorter information profiles and the elaborate
encyclopaedic profiles of about ten selected species of medicinal
plants, to serve as specimens, without any photographs. Detailed
information on over 600 species of medicinal plants is contained in the
unpublished databases compiled by us. In view of the suggestion that
information on selected medicinal plants should be included in the
website, information profiles of 90 species of medicinal plants,
supported by 157 colour photographs, were prepared for this Website. In
course of time several more would be added. Colour photographs provide a
perspective about the species in question and make their recognition
easy. Clicking on the ‘Contents’ in the Front Page, would open to the
list of the 24 major Chapters in the website. Clicking on the chosen
Chapter here, would open to the list of subdivisions in that particular
Chapter (if it were subdivided), from where the relevant textual
information can be reached. If the Chapter were not subdivided, one
would reach the text, directly from the chapter title. Clicking on ‘Profiles & Photographs' on the
Front Page, would open to the panel of named miniature photographs,
relating to 90 species of medicinal plants. Clicking on the chosen frame
would open to the photographs and information on the selected
species. I earnestly look forward to viewers’ response and feedback, for the
improvement of the website. All feasible suggestions would be
incorporated, from time to time. In my efforts to create this website I received a lot of support and
encouragement from several people and institutions. I am particularly
indebted to the following: The DFEE, especially Shri Umesh, the former Secretary and Dr M H
Balakrishnaiah, Director, Technical Cell, for supporting the Website
Proposal; The KSCST, the former Executive Secretary Shri B Ramaprasad and
present Executive Secretary Shri Chakravarthy Mohan, for their
support and continued interest in the project; Professor C E Muralidhar, Principal, SSMRV College, and the
Rashtriya Shikshana Samithi Trust, for their interest and for
providing infra-structural facilities for this project; M/s NetCom
Media, Hyderabad, particularly Shri J Krishna Mohan,
for the untiring efforts and committment in designing and
constructing an impressive and functional website; and Shri Chavali Narayana, Hyderabad, Shri Ramakrishna Chavali, Tokyo,
Dr S Shantharam, Basel, Switzerland, and Dr M Sanjappa. Director,
Botanical survey of India, Kolkata, for their enthusiastic support
and encouragement to my research efforts. May
2002
C
KAMESWARA RAO No
1, Gupta’s Layout, Southend
Road, Bangalore
560 004, India Ph.:
91-080-654 9470; 91-080-653 4740 E-mail.: ckrao@indmedplants-kr.org & krao@vsnl.com Visit: www.fbae.org Targeted Beneficiaries The following groups, among others, are expected to be interested and benefit from this website:
|
||||||||||
