Botanic Gardens are the institutions, holding documented collection of living plants for the purposes of scientific research, conservation, display, and education. For centuries Botanic gardens have been the main source for scientific study of plant diversity, providing a mechanism for an introduction and assessment of plants for their utilization in daily life mainly agriculture, horticulture, forestry and medicine etc.
Botanic Garden of GC University Lahore has a wealth of many important plants of the world and is the oldest botanic garden of Pakistan. At present nearby 700 plant species belonging to 132 families are present in Botanic garden. Botanic garden covers seven acres of land and since 1912 this garden has been managed by the Department of Botany, Government College University, Lahore, with its mission statement; “to provide an interactive platform for education and applied research focusing on conservation, taxonomy, plant eco-physiology, and sustainability”.
Both the native and exotic species are well represented in the Botanic Garden. The native species are introduced through seeds collected from the wild. They are represented by the species of ‘Tropical Thorn forest’ i.e, Salvadora oleoides, Prosopis cineraria, Capparis decidua and Tamarix aphylla. The other native species include the representation of ‘scrub forest’ i.e, Acacia modesta, Olea ferruginea, Adhathoda vesia, Dodonea viscoa and Zizyphus numularia. Pinus roxburghii represents the native pines of mountainous ecosystems. Nannorrhops ritchiana (Mazri) represents the native palm species, while Butea monosperma represents the tropical dry deciduous forest.
The other indigenous species include, Salvadora persica, Ephedra ciliata, Juniper sp.
Salvadora oleoides
Salvadora persica
Ephedra foliata
Butea monosperma
Tamarix aphylla
The exotic collection represents the Himalayan, sub-himalayan, Ind-Malayan, Sino-Japanese, African, Australian, and American regions.
The display of plants in Botanic Garden follows the taxonomic and ecological arrangements.
The plants are displayed in separate plots with the specific plant families for both Angiosperms and Gymnosperms. Overall the display is spreading in 22 different plots. There are separate display for the hydrophytes, xerophytes, indoor plants and the ferns. Many plants in this Botanic Garden are rare and endangered at national and international levels, e.g, Ginhgo biloba, Dalbergia odorifera etc. A small herbal garden displaying 15 different kinds of herbal plants was established in 2002.
