KU completes 40-year research on flora of Pakistan

[riaz]

KARACHI: Research on Pakistan’s flora that involved countrywide surveys, investigations and a long process of authentication by foreign experts has finally come to an end at Karachi University (KU) after 40 years, scientists at the university told Dawn.

The last volumes of the Flora of Pakistan are under publication these days and it is expected that the work will be available by the middle of next year.

Currently, there are 222 editions of Flora of Pakistan.

“It’s a great achievement, though it took so many years. It’s the first most comprehensive scientific data on the country’s flowering species,” said Prof Mohammad Qaiser, senior botanist currently serving as KU vice chancellor.

Prof Qaiser credited the work to his mentor, senior botanist and former KU vice chancellor Prof Syed Irtifaq Ali, who spent more than 50 years in teaching and research and was the first, along with another researcher, to initiate the work.

“He is one of the most senior plant taxonomists in the country and the only expert help available to us. Prof Ali worked tirelessly for the research project despite his poor health,” Prof Qaiser explained reasons for the delay in the work’s completion.

For more details visit: http://www.dawn.com/news/1140335/ku-com ... f-pakistan

[khabbab]

That is great news. I would be glad if it is available in electronic form as well.