Floristic Inventory of Baghdad-Ul-Jadeed Campus, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan

The Islamia University of Bahawalpur is located in Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan. Bahawalpur has always been a seat of higher learning. Uch Sharif (a nearby ancient town) had one of the largest universities in the world where scholars from all over the world studied. As a continuation of this tradition a religious university (Jamia Abbasia) was established at Bahawalpur in 1925, following the academic pursuits of Jamia Al-Azhar, Egypt. The renowned scholars spread the beacon of Islam by teaching Tafseer of Quran, Hadith, Fiqh and History along with other contemporary subjects. In view of changing scenario, Jamia Abbasia was declared a general University in 1975, and renamed as The Islamia University of Bahawalpur. Initially, it started functioning at Abbasia and Khawaja Fareed Campus with ten departments. In order to construct a modern and self-contained campus, 1250 acres of land was allotted to the university on eight Kilometer Bahawalnagar road (Figure 1).

The Baghdad-ul-Jadeed campus, the Islamia University of Bahawalpur (Baghdad-ul-Jadeed Campus, IUB) has three basic habitats, i.e. cultivated area is specific for crop cultivation and agricultural experiment practices, desert area having sand dunes supporting xeric vegetation and faculty area specified for educational, administration, residential and recreational buildings of the campus. The climate of the area is of subtropical continental type, characterized by high temperature, low relative humidity, high rate of evaporation, strong summer winds and low and sporadic rain fall. Annual rainfall ranges between 90-200 mm and temperature between -2ᴼC 50ᴼC. The soil is made up of alluvial deposits with cultivated area loamy soil, while the desert areas clayey loam soil with low sand dunes at scattered places (Hameed at al., 2002).

Figure 1: Map of Baghadad-ul-Jadeed Campus, IUB, Pakistan. (Source: Geography Department; The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan)

The floristic studies of an area are a prerequisite for ecological and phytogeographical studies and conservation management activities. From an ecological point of view, studies on vegetation structure need to link the flora and vegetation with habitat types (Nicholes, 1930). Floristic inventories provide a baseline for future taxonomic, ecological, ethnobotanical, phytochemical investigations and conservation managements. Ecosystems are continually changing due to pollution, deforestation, habitat destruction and fragmentation. Thus periodic updating of floral diversity in the form of checklists of a region is necessary to understand species to species and species to environment interactions (Tastad et al., 2010; Shaheen et al., 2014; Shinwari et al., 2012, 2015). Many researchers have worked on floristic inventories, composition and vegetation structure in different parts of Pakistan and also floristic studies of different universities campuses also recorded (Sant, 1962; Singh, 1967; Arshad and Rao, 1994; Arshad and Akbar, 2002; Qureshi et al., 2011; Singh, 2011; Ahmad et al., 2012; Malik et al., 2013; Choudhary et al., 2014; Wariss et al., 2013, 2014a, 2014b, 2015).The present study sought to document the floristic diversity, update species naming with local names and determine species distribution in the study area. It will be helpful and serve for the conservation and sustainable management of plant resources of the area.

An extensive survey was carried out in the study area during the period between the years 2010-2012 with the objective of collecting plant specimens. The study area was divided into three categories on the basis of topography, soil condition and vegetation type: cultivated, desert and faculty areas. The life form, habit, wild/cultivated status was also observed and recorded. The collected specimens were identified based on previous flora descriptions (Jafri, 1966; Chaudhary 1969-1989, Ali and Nasir, 1989-1992, Ali and Qaiser, 1986; Ali and Qaiser, 1993-2007; Bhandari, 1987, THE PLANT LIST).

A total of 306 plant species belonging to 235 genera and 78 families were identified. The major plant families that contributed in the formation of vegetation of the study area were Poaceae with 45 species followed by Papilionaceae (23 species), Asteraceae (18 species), Solanaceae (12 species), Euphorbiaceae (12 species), Cucurbitaceae (10 species), Mimosaceae (11 species) and Moraceae (8 species). The complete checklist of species along with their family names in alphabetical order, local name, presence in cultivated, desert and faculty area (Habitat wise distribution) and wild or cultivated species, habit and also life form is given in (Table 1, Figure 2 and 3). The floristic composition represented by Gymnosperms with 4 families of 5 genera and 5 species while Angiosperms represented by 73 families, of which 65 families of dicots with 185 genera and 242 species while monocots contributing with 59 species, 45 genera and9 families (Table 2).

The faculty area mostly comprises wild and exotic shrubs and trees such as Alstonia scholaris, Nerium oleander, Plumeria rubra, Cassia fistula, Halorrhena pubescens, Tecoma stans, Bombax ceiba, Cordia myxa, Delonix regia, Canna indica, Conocarpus erectus, Quisqualis indica, Terminalai arjuna, Cupressus sempervirens, Thuja orientalis, Jatropha curcas, Lagerstroemia indica, Lagerstroemia speciosa, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Azadirachta indica, Melia azedarach, Albizia lebbeck, Leucaena lecuocephala, Ficus bengalensis, Ficus religiosa, Moringa oleifera, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Bougainvillea glabra, Pongamia pinnata, Saraca asoca, Calligonum polygonoides, Rosa indica, and Tamarix aphylla.

In faculty area, grassy lawn also having some wild grasses and herbaceous species as Cenchrus biflorus, Cenchrus ciliaris, Cymbopogon jwarancusa, Dactyloctenium aegyptium, Cynodon dactylon, Dichanthium annulatum, Digitaria sanguinalis, Panicum antidotale, Ochthochloa compressa, Poa annua, Vicia sativa, Oxalis corniculata, Fumaria indica, Euphorbia prostrata, Sonchus asper and Launaea nudicaulis.

Figure 2: Floristic composition, habitat distribution, wild or cultivated species and life form at Baghdad-ul-Jadeed Campus, IUB.

Figure 3: Habit of the recorded Species at Baghdad-ul-Jadeed Campus, IUB

Table 2: Comprehensive breakdown of plant groups at Baghdad-ul Jadeed Campus, IUB.

Several of the naturally growing herbs, Shrubs and woody species in the desert area like Acacia nilotica, Acacia jacquemonti, Capparis decidua, Calotropis procera, Aerva javanica, Dipterygium glaucum, Dalbergia sissoo, Leptadenia pyrotechnica, Crotalaria burhia, Asphodelus tenuifolius, Limeum indicum, Launaea resedifolia, Heliotropium crispum, Nonea edgeworthii, Farsetia hamiltonii, Haloxylon salicornicum, Suaeda fruticosa, Citrullus colocynthis, Boerhavia repens, Solanum surattense, Corchorus depressus and Tribulus terrestris.

Different crops grown in cultivated area which also having some weeds as Digera muricata, Carthamus oxycantha, Cirsium arvense, Conyza bonariensis, Eclipta alba, Coronopus didymus, Stellaria media, Anagallis arvensis, Cyperus rotundus, Melilotus officinalis, Echinochloa colona, and Solanum nigrum.

The majority of the plant species in the study area were cultivated species. It is interesting that the majority of the cultivated plants were the ornamentals, few species was edible ones and many having a medicinal value. In conclusion, University campuses are very diverse and dynamic systems which contain wild and many locally adapted crops, also known as landraces. Hence, these are particularly interesting for in situ conservation and sustainable management of plant resources.

We would like to thank Prof Dr. Muhammad Arshad (Late) who suggested and guided during this study and Muditha Kasun Meegahakumbura, Wambulwa Moses Chelotito review manuscript.

The authors declare that they have no competing interest.

Author contribution

Hafiz Muhammad Wariss collected field data and prepared early draft of manuscript while help in preparing and designing the manuscript and figures.