Containing more than 20,000 specimens collected over a period of 40 years mostly from the Garhwal and Kumaon Himalayas, the Shivaliks and Doon Valley, Haridwar and Rishikesh by the late botanist professor Som Dev Sharma, this private herbarium was donated to the botany division of Forest Research Institute by the late professor’s wife Vijaya Sharma as it was his wish that that the collection be put to good use for the scientific fraternity and the Nation as a whole. The Professor Somdeva Herbarium is considered to be the largest private collection of flowering plants in India.
It is pertinent to mention here that the late Professor Sharma was a dedicated botanist noted for considerable contribution to taxonomy of plants. Among the 30 plus of his research papers in national and international, one of his most notable works in his book on-‘The Orchid Flora of North-West Himalaya’ apart from which a plant (Eremostachys superb) listed in IUCN Red Data Book of endangered plants, was collected by him.
Having taught plant taxonomy at the DAV College in Dehradun for more than 30 years, his students have named two plant species on him- Dendrocalamussomdevai and Gentianasomdevai in his honour.
His Herbarium collections along with illustrations, personal library and papers will be kept in a separate section of the Systematic Botany Division of FRI. This section will solely be dedicated to Prof Som Dev for his valuable contribution in the field of taxonomy. An old student of his, Dr Mahesh Bhandari and the Indian Council of Forestry and Education (ICFRE) Ashwani Kumar are said to have played major role in facilitating the development.
Professor Som Deva Sharma single-handedly his collection for decades with more than 20,000 specimens of Angiosperms from north India covering Upper Gangetic Plains, Shivaliks, Chakrata Hills and various parts of Greater Himalaya. Perhaps it is one of the largest private collections of flowering plants in the country.
It will be recalled that he undertook excursions to the Himalayas to study some of the rarest and endangered species.