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KU practical & examinations schedule: Botanical garden openning
KU announces practical and examinations schedule
Karachi, Feb 20, 2008: University of Karachi (KU) has advised the students of B.A. /B.Sc. (Pass) that
the first and second year annual Psychology Examination-2007 will begin from
February 26, in the concerned colleges. The students have to contact their
college Principals for the programme and bring their National Identity Cards in
order to appear in the practical examinations.
PPI adds: KU on Tuesday
announced the schedule of BA (Pass) first year Home Economics practical
examination 2007.
According to the programme of first year, the practical
at Abdullah Government Girls College will be held on March 1, APWA Government
Girls College on March 3, HRH Government Aga Khan Girls College on March 4, Sir
Syed Government Girls College on March 5, HI Government Osmania Girls College on
March 6, Islamia Government College for Women on March 7, Government Degree
College for Women Sharae Liaquat on March 8, Government Degree Girls College,
Korangi-4 on March 10, PECHS Government Girls College on March 11,
Khatoon-e-Pakistan Government Girls College on March 12 and KMA Degree Girls
College on March 13.
While, as per second year's schedule, the practical
examination at Government Degree Girls College, Korangi-4 will be held on
February 25, Government Degree College for Women, Sharae Liaquat on February 26,
Sir Syed Government Girls College on February 26 and February 27, HRH Government
Aga Khan Girls College on March 1, KMA Degree Girls College on March 3,
Khatoon-e-Pakistan Government Girls College on March 4, Islamia Government
College for Women on March 5, Abdullah Government Girls College on March 6 and
March 7 and PECHS Government Girls College on March 8 and March 10. The News
Karachi University botanical garden will open to public next month
Karachi: The Karachi University Botanical Garden (KUBG) is set to
open to the public once a week in the first week of March.
Inaugurated
last year, the garden is the first of its kind in Pakistan, 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.
Professor Dr Mohammad Qaiser, the Project Director
and Vice-Chancellor of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and
Technology (FUUAST), said that preparations were under way to open the garden
for public viewing and it was expected that the plan would materialise
shortly.
"People have shown a lot of interest in visiting the garden
since the project officially took off last September. In fact, emulating us,
other universities have also planned to build botanical gardens, which is a good
omen not only from the point of view of research, but also for plant
conservation and public education," he said, adding that students from different
educational institutions had been regular visitors to the garden while it had
also become a repository of research for KU students.
According to Prof
Dr Anjum Perveen, who is currently looking after the KUBG, the garden would also
open twice a week for university staff and their families. The ticket fee hasn't
been decided yet, while the process of training some KU students as guides would
be initiated shortly. Keeping in view the maintenance of the garden, she said,
the management was contemplating imposing a certain age restriction for
children.
Spread 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. An open-air
theatre has also been constructed for educational activities.
Among the
plants, the major attractions include insectivorous plants such as Ginkgo biloba
(one of the best known examples of a living fossil), Victoria amazonica (the
species named after Queen Victoria is the largest of the Nymphaeaceae family of
water lilies), tree fern and the grass tree (native to Australia, these
slow-growing plants have a life-span of 600 years).
Wide variety of
plants
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).
Elaborating upon the reasons,
Abbas said: "A major source of livelihood in rural Balochistan, the dwarf palm
is extensively cut and used for making a variety of goods such as baskets and
mats while Commiphora wightii (gugal) is exported illegally to India, where it
is used in perfumes, medicine and cosmetics. The unfortunate part is that the
gugal tree is killed with a poison before it is uprooted. This is done to claim
that the plant was already dead when it was cut." Featured on the Red data list
of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), gugal has been a
key component in the Ayurvedic system of medicine and is the same product that
was known in Hebrew, ancient Greek and Latin sources as bdellium.
About
Cadaba heterotricha, Abbas pointed out that the plant species was only reported
from Karachi, the Arabian Peninsula and the Somali coast, which was indicative
of the Mesozoic era when this entire region was one. "This ancient plant can
become an excellent replacement for Clerodendrum inerme (dum-dum) to make
hedges, since it is drought-resistant, slow-growing, insect-resistant and blooms
profusely," he said, while stressing the importance of research on the genetic
potential of wild plants.
About future plans, he said that a seed bank
and plant conservation laboratory had been established and a plant nursery would
open soon. Besides, projects such as an educational/visitors centre, souvenir
shop and launching of a website were also in the pipeline.
"Botanic
gardens are playing a vital role in human well-being all over the world. The
KUBG is just the beginning of the long journey that aims to bring man closer to
nature," he concluded. Dawn
Your Comments
"i,m glad to know about the botanical garden of karachi university coz i,m a botanist also.i think this credit goes to sir qaiser.i wish him best luck."
Name: SIAR KHAN
Email: siar_khan2008@yahoo.com
City, Country: peshawar, Pakistan
"i love tree. i have also upto 100 botanical species in my Pvt land in lahore.I hope 200 species in 2009.I work in Dawn news Channel."
Name: sami naveed
Email: saminaveed@yahoo.com
City, Country: lahore, Pakistan
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