Plant databases

The discussion on “Flora and Fauna of India” at INDOLOGY (May 2021) led to the mention of several useful resources for identifying plants in early Indian literature. (It has long been inadequate to cite Monier-Williams.) Some of these resources have been in print for many years, others are more recent. But the links below make the search for identifications somewhat more convenient.

• Meulenbeld Sanskrit Names of Plants
• eNighaṇṭu from AYUSH
• Pandanus database

A useful key to resources for modern binomial plant names and taxonomies (that are subject to change and revision):

• World Flora Online (formerly http://www.theplantlist.org/)
• International Plant Names Index
• Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal
• The Biodiversity Heritage Library is an extraordinarily rich collection of indexed and scanned botanical research books from the fifteenth century onwards. See, for example, this beautiful illustration from the Hortus Malabaricus, vol. 1 (Amsterdam, 1678).