It was found that the newly added 318 species correspond to 118 Botanical families. It was interesting to note that, the top ten families with their share are the following: Fabaceae (22 species), Asteraceae (15), Lamiaceae and Orchidaceae (14 each), Euphorbiaceae (13), Acanthaceae and Rubiaceae (8 each), Brassicaceae (7), Moraceae and Polygonaceae (6 each).

Another interesting finding was with the habit-wise distribution of these species. The analysis showed that the majority of the species are Herbs (134), followed by Trees (84), Shrubs (79) and Climbers (21).

Of these 318 species, 169 were found to be medicinal in nature. The state-wise analysis of these medicinal species reveals another interesting finding. About 29% of the collections are accounted for Himachal Pradesh, followed by Nicobar Islands (16%). The contribution of other states in the collection during the year was as follows: Tamil Nadu and Manipur (14%), Karnataka (13%), Rajasthan (5 %), Kerala and Punjab (3%), Orissa (2 %) and Haryana (0.6%). The analysis further revealed that the Herb species were represented by 72 species, followed by Trees (46), Shrubs (38) and Climbers (13).

About 960 medicinal plant species corresponding to 1289 botanical raw drugs are found to be in raw drug trade across the country.  The Herbarium over the last ten years has collected about 80 % of the traded species (771 species). During the year 2007-08, several raw drugs of important traded species were added to the collection. Noteworthy among them are the following:

Of the different collections made during the year, one specimen turned to be a new species. A specimen collected from Anamalai hills, Tamil Nadu was found to be a new species and it was named Pogostemon raghavendranii R. Murugan et al. The Holotype (R. Murugan 22A) and the Isotype (R. Murugan 22B) of the species were deposited at FRLH herbarium. A research article to this effect was communicated.

The different collections also resulted in new additions to the Indian Flora. Pogostemon hirsutus Benth. (Lamiaceae) which was hitherto reported only from Sri Lanka was collected from Anamalai hills, Tamil Nadu. This was also deposited at FRLH (R. Murugan 21). A research article to this effect was prepared and communicated for publication.

The floristic surveys conducted during the year also resulted in the addition of many endemic species to the Herbarium. There were fifteen endemic species which get added to the herbarium. These were as follows:

Table – 2:  Endemic species collected during 2007-2008

Besides the collection of Herbarium sheets, the Repository also maintains an image library. During the year 2007-08, more than 1240 images (scanned at 300 dpi resolution) of plants were added this library. These images depict different features of plants such as the morphology, living habitat, population, identification features and medicinal parts. Additionally, about 60 photographs were scanned at 600 dpi resolution, to enhance the image quality as per the advice of the Steering Committee.

The Repository also maintains a virtual Herbarium. During the year 2007-08, scanned images of 1000 herbarium sheets (whose identification completed, authenticated and labelled) were added to the Virtual Herbarium. The images were scanned at 300 dpi resolution and stored as JPEG files. Additionally, 111 herbarium sheets corresponding to 43 species were digitised at 600 dpi resolution to enhance the image quality as per the advice of the Steering Committee.

A training module on Herbarium Techniques was prepared and was administered in two programs. The module was further revised based on the learning and the feedback gathered during these two programs.

A draft of the `Illustrated field guide on 101 common Medicinal plants of Karnataka' was prepared during the year and it was decided to present this draft in the forthcoming Steering Committee meeting.

In order to fulfill the outreach needs, 3 posters on the following themes were developed. All the three were conceived under the theme “Medicinal Plant Wealth of India”.
i)   Red Listed Medicinal Plants
ii)  Wild Edible Fruits
iii) Bhumyamalaki (Herbaceous Phyllanthus) complex

Besides the botanical surveys, the herbarium team was also involved in the training and Education initiatives. Interactions with the teachers from other educational institutions helped the herbarium team to recognize the ever increasing need for specialized herbarium training. In order to meet this need, the Herbarium team during 2007-08, organized two training programs for the students of Pharmacy and Ayurveda.

These training programs helped these students to learn the basic skills of plant identification and herbarium preparation, besides acquainting them with other practices and protocols of Herbarium. Twenty-six teachers and students were given orientation in these programs.