Herbarium of Pakistan (ISL) - QAU

Description

ISL was established in 1974. It is now the largest herbarium in Pakistan having 180,000 specimens. These include 150 flowering plant families plus many gymnosperms and non-vascular plants. The oldest specimens were collected some 50 years ago and 52 percent of all flowering plant genera are represented in the collection. They have been collected from all over Pakistan including Gilgit-Baltistan, Salt Range, Galliyat, Deserts, Sindh, Baluchistan, Azad Jammu, Kasmir, and other parts of the northern Himalayas. The herbarium supports and promotes research on a wide range of environmental and biodiversity issues. Its holdings include many important endangered, rare and vulnerable plant species. The herbarium scientists are committed to making this important collection more accessible to botanists and others, wherever they may be, for use in their own projects: particularly in biodiversity, conservation and sustainable development. Currently, the herbarium is being used by projects in taxonomy, molecular systematics, revisions, palynology, diversity of wild vegetables and edible fruits, plants for biodiesel resources, medicinal plants and Himalayan, deserts and subtropical flora of Pakistan. The herbarium’s holdings may be consulted by anyone interested. Visitors routinely include foreigners, scientists, herbalists, naturalists, students and teachers from universities, colleges and schools. In this way, the herbarium plays an important role in the promotion of the natural history of plant wealth of Pakistan. Dr. Mushtaq Ahmad, a plant taxonomist, Dr. Muhammad Zafar, a herbarium botanist, assisted by their post-graduate students, have initiated digitization of ISL. The records will be made available through OpenHerbarium.org and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF.org) following internationally accepted protocols.

Contacts

ADMINISTRATIVE_POINT_OF_CONTACT
Mushtaq Ahmad
Telephone: +92 51 90643149
email: mushtaqflora@hotmail.com

POINT_OF_CONTACT
Mushtaq Ahmad
Telephone: +92 51 90643149
email: mushtaqflora@hotmail.com

Herbarium of Pakistan (ISL) - QAU
Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University
Islamabad
45320
Country Capital
PK
email: herbarium@qau.edu.pk