The Karachi University Botanical Garden (KUBG) representing over 2,000 exotic and indigenous plant species. The initiative is being taken to educate the public about plant diversity, with special reference to Pakistan. The KUBG has also recently become a member of the Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), the world’s largest botanical gardens and plant conservation network. It spre
ad over 35 acres, the garden has many sections comprising a wide, diverse range of plants and trees, which are all watered with the help of an energy-efficient waste water treatment plant. The whole garden is connected through a 2.75km-long walkway and can be accessed by wheelchair. A large number of plants from tropical, temperate and alpine zones are kept in greenhouses where the environment is controlled and plant growth is monitored. The tropical house comprises epiphyte plants (mainly orchids), different species of ferns, palms and mosses (non-vascular plants), such as Spanish moss and Club moss. The pitcher plant — a carnivore — is also kept here along with Mimosa pudica (touch-me-not), Sansevieria trifasciata (also called mother-in-law’s tongue because of its long, sharp leaves) as well as pineapple and betel-nut plants. At the alpine and temperate house, there are different species of juniper and fruit trees along with plants of tea, olive, Acacia modesta (phulai), Diospyros lotus (amlok), Magnolia grandiflora (bull bay, native to the south-eastern United States) and some plant species donated by Dr Albert Stevens, Director of the Berlin Botanical Garden (the second largest botanical garden of Europe). The section for medicinal plants include Jatropha curcas (jamal gota), Bacopa monnieri (water hyssop, popular in Ayurvedic medicine), Withania coagulans (common in Afghanistan and East India), Prosopis cineraria (jand, commonly found in Thar, used as fodder and for construction purposes), Ocimum tenuiflorum (tulsi), Datura alba (thorn-apple) and Ocimum basilicum (nyazbo, widely used in cosmetics, perfumes and liqueurs). Besides, there are some plants which are endemic to Pakistan, for instance Acacia nilotica subsp. hemispherica, Convolvulus sindicus, Asparagus dumosus (from the dried and arid regions of southern Pakistan), Abutilon sepalum, Tamarix salina, Ruellia sindica (bukhar booti) and Cadaba heterotricha (some of the rare plants of the Saharo-Sindian region). Endangered species:
There is also a big collection of different varieties of palms, cacti, calcium-loving, salt-tolerant halophytes and aquatic plants. About endemic plants, Haider Abbas, Assistant Professor at the Dr A.Q. Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, KU, and a horticulturist at the KUBG, said that most of these plants were threatened since they existed only in Pakistan and there was hardly any effort for their conservation. One of the species vanishing from Balochistan and Sindh is Nannorrhops ritchieana (a dwarf palm).
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