Government College University, Lahore Botanic Garden (BGGC)

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Pakistan - Punjab - Lahore

Institution Code: LAHOR

BGCI Member: Yes

ArbNet Accredited: Level I

View of one of the Plot at Botanic Garden Government College University Lahore Pakistan
View of one of the Plot at Botanic Garden Government College University Lahore Pakistan

About the Government College University, Lahore Botanic Garden (BGGC)

GCBG was established in 1912 and this is the oldest Botanic Garden of Pakistan.The Garden is also the "Secretariat of Pakistan Botanic Gardens Network". The Garden is well connected both inside and abroad. For the last three years the collaborative project with BGCI is being carried out here which focuses on the restoration of Dry land ecosystems in Punjab.

Main Address:
Government College University, Lahore Botanic Garden (BGGC)
Department of Botany, Government College University
Katchery Road
Lahore
Punjab 54000 Pakistan

Telephone: (92 42) 111000010/256,257, (92 42 6118849) (92 42 6118849)
Fax: (92 42) 9213341
URL: www.gcu.edu.pk/Botn.htm
Primary Email: botanicgarden@gcu.edu.pk

Staff Details

  • Director's Name: Prof. Dr.Amin U Khan
    Curator's Name: Dr.Zafar Siddiq
    Plant Records Officer's Name: Dr.Zafar Siddiq
  • Total Staff:
    Horticultural Staff Number: 1
    Educational Staff Number: 2
    Research Staff Number: 5
    Administration Staff Number: 3

About the Garden

  • Institution Type: Botanic Garden
  • Status
  • Status: Private: No
    Status: State: Yes
    Status: Educational: Yes
    Status: Municipal: No
    Status: Satellite: Yes
    Status: Trust: No
  • Date founded: 1912
  • Physical Data
  • Natural Vegetation Area: Yes
    Natural vegetation area: Size: 2 Hectares
  • Landscaped Area: Yes
    Landscaped Area: Size: 4 Hectares
  • Total Area: 15 Hectares
    Latitude: 31.3800
    Longitude: 73.3800
    Annual Rainfall: 350 mm
    Altitude: 234.00 Metres
    Total area of glasshouses: 10 Metres
    Total area of shadehouses: 20 Metres
  • Additional Locations
  • Satellite Garden Names: Satellite Garden of Indigenous Vegetation at Harappa Mound
  • Locality: Information
  • Locality: Garden Name: No
  • Local Address: NA
  • Locality: City: NA
  • Locality: State: NA

Features and Facilities

  • Herbarium: Yes
    Herbarium: Number of Specimens: 6000
    Arboretum: Yes
    Arboretum Size: 5
  • Micropropagation/ Tissue Culture Facilities: Yes
    Seed Bank: Yes
    Published Plant Catalogue: Yes
    Computer Plant Record System: Yes
  • Open to public: Yes
    Friends society: Yes
    Retail Outlet: Shop: No
    Retail Outlet: Plant Sales: No
    Disabled access: Yes
  • Number of Visitors: 5000
    Number of Volunteers: 10

Plant Collections

  • Accession Number: 950
    Cultivation Taxa Num: 700
  • Special Collections:Plants are used for teaching and research.
    The garden is enriched with all the major plant groups. Pteridophytes such as Nephrolepis,Pteris and Adiantum etc. Gymnosperms including cycads (both male female plants), Pinus roxburghii, Cupressus , Ginkgo biloba and Araucaria heterophylla, and the collection of Hydrophytes (12 specis)Cacti and the other important plant groups like Angiosperms, most of them are planted for more than 100 year ago.The garden also has the representation of native trees of Punjab.
  • Invasive Species Monitoring: Yes
    Invasive Species Policy: Yes
    ABS Policy: No
    Plant Collection Policy: Yes

Conservation Programmes

  • Conservation Programme: Yes
    Medicinal Plant Programme: Yes
    Ex Situ Conservation Programme: Yes
    Reintroduction Programme: Yes

Research Programmes

  • Biotechnology: Yes
    Plant Breeding: No
    Conservation - Biology: Yes
    Conservation - Genetics: Yes
    Data Management Systems and Information Technology: Yes
    Ecology: Yes
    Ecosystem Conservation: Yes
    Education: Yes
    Ethnobotany: Yes
    Exploration: Yes
    Floristics: Yes
    Horticulture: Yes
    Invasive Species Biology and Control: Yes
    Molecular Genetics: No
    Pollination Biology: Yes
    Restoration Ecology: Yes
    Seed/Spore Biology: Yes
    Systematics and Taxonomy: Yes
    Sustainability: Yes
    Pharmacology: Yes
    Agriculture: Yes
    Land Restoration: Yes
    Urban Environments: Yes

Education Programmes

  • Visitor/Education Centre: Yes
    Education Signs in Garden: Yes
    Public Lectures/Talks: Yes
    Education Booklets/Leaflets: Yes
    Guided Tours: Yes
    Permanent Public Displays: Yes
    Special Exhibitions: No
    Courses for School Children: No
    Courses for University/College Students: Yes
    Courses for General Public: Yes
    Education Programme: Yes

Restoration of Dryland Ecosystems in Pakistan

BGCI is working with the Government College University to restore the heavily degraded drylands of southeastern Pakistan (Punjab province). Pilot projects have been established to restore the increasingly rare scrub thorn and flood plain thorn forests, whose dominant tree species are commonly cut down for fuel wood and construction. A pilot project is also underway in the tropical dry deciduous forest, much of which has been cleared for farmland.

As most dryland trees are slow growing, restoring these unique ecosystems to their original grandeur and productivity will take several hundred years. Professor Amin Khan has been working on the conservation of these unique ecosystems for over 25 years. The hard work required in the face of very challenging political and socio-economic circumstances makes this project all the more compelling as a symbol of hope for the future.

Over the past four years, BGCI and Government College University and Botanic Garden, Lahore, have been successfully implementing a trial restoration initiative in the dry forests of Pakistan’s Punjab province. The achievements and challenges of this work are presented in the joint publication Dry Woodlands in Pakistan’s Punjab Province – Piloting restoration of a unique yet vanishing natural resource, which can be downloaded here.

In their initial stages of establishment, the saplings of Acacia modesta - which are particularly susceptible to browsing by rodents - and Olea ferrunginea are protected with branches of dodonaea viscosa. A regular planting pattern has been adopted to facilitate monitoring.