Pak. J. Bot., 43(3): 1679-1684, 2011. FLORISTIC INVENTORY OF PIR MEHR ALI SHAH ARID AGRICULTURE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FARM AT KOONT AND ITS SURROUNDING AREAS RAHMATULLAH QURESHI 1* , G.R. BHATTI 2 AND GHULAM SHABBIR 3 1 Department of Botany, Pir Mehr Ali Arid Agriculture University, Murree Road Rawalpindi Pakistan. 2 Centre for Biodiversity & Conservation, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, (Mir’s), Sindh, Pakistan. 3 Plant Breeding and Genetics, Pir Mehr Ali Arid Agriculture University, Murree Road Rawalpindi Pakistan. Abstract The aim of present study was to provide botanical inventory of the study area. For this purpose, floristic survey was carried out during April, 2008 to March, 2009. One hundred thirty plant species belonging to 105 genera and 37 families were identified from the study area. Of them, 97 species were of dicot and 33 monocot. Poaceae was found the most dominant family in the flora of the Koont Farm that contributed 23.26% followed by Asteraceae (13.18%), Fabaceae (7.75%), Amaranthaceae, Euphorbiaceae (6.25% each), Solanaceae (4.65%) and Boraginaceae (3.10%), while rest of the families had few species. It has been observed that most of the life-span of recorded taxa was annual natured (52%) followed by perennial (40%) and biennial (8%). Therophytes were the most abundant life form that constituted 43% of the total flora, followed by phanerophytes (19%), cryptophytes (15%), hemicryptophytes (13%) and xeropsammophytes (10%). Introduction Inventory of floras by plant taxonomists is a common practice throughout the world to have information about plants. A flora is a compiled checklist of plant species growing in any geographic area. Through this practice, valuable data is recorded which could be used as reference for future studies. Since the world is extremely variable, hence a vast range of floras are available ranging from concise or Field Floras to Research Floras. A reasonably good flora provides a work, which can be used for proper identification of all our plant- wealth so that its utilization could be taken up on a scientific and systematic basis. The identification of local plants along with the description of an area is very important because it can show specific species of the local area and their occurrence, growing season, species hardness, distinct species, finding new species and the effect of climatic conditions like drought and over-grazing on vegetation (Ali, 2008). From Potohar range there are few studies previously reported (Ahmed, 1964; Bhopal & Chaudhri, 1977a&b; Stewart, 1952; 1961). However, these floras have missed very important taxa and even small pockets like the project area. Besides, there is a big gap in time period; therefore there is an immediate need of the hours to revise the flora of whole country. The study area (Koont Farm) is located in Rawalpindi district on Chakwal Road at the borderline of tehsil Gujjar Khan. It is bounded with north side by Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Attock, south side by Jhelum, Lahore and Gujrat, East side by Kashmir and Kahuta and west side by Chakwal and Khushab. It lies at the beginning of the Potohar plateau and the Salt Range, the most of the area is a barani and the terrain is mainly of undulated and gully in nature mostly covered with scrub vegetation in the southwest and leveled plains interspaced with dry rocky patches in the north and northeast (Qureshi, 2009). Most of the soils of the study area are sandy loam and sandy clay loam with minor variations of loamy sand. There is dominance of sand particle in the soil of the study along with alkalinity and sodicity. Therefore these soils are deficient in organic matter and phosphorus, which results sparse vegetation in the project area. The study area lies in the subtropical region with the exception of a little on the cooler side, owing to its elevation, from central Punjab. Winter temperatures normally range between –4°C and 25°C, and summer temperatures average between 15°C and 40°C and may go up to a maximum of 15°C (Anon., 1998). The aim of this study is to provide baseline information of the existing flora to develop herbarium at PMAS Arid Agriculture University with correctly identified plant specimens of Koont Farm and its surrounding areas. This paper presents the flora and life-forms of the study area which will serve in teaching and research in various fields of plant sciences. Materials and Methods The whole area was thoroughly surveyed during April 2008- March, 2009 for the collection of plant specimens. The collected specimens were processed by conventional method for drying and making herbarium sheets. All specimens were identified with the help of Flora of Pakistan (Nasir & Ali, 1970-1989; Ali & Nasir, 1989-1991; Ali & Qaiser, 1993-1995, 2000-2008), Flora of Karachi (Jafri, 1966) and Flora of Nara Desert (Qureshi, 2004). The determined specimens were matched in the National Herbarium, NARC Islamabad and deposited in the Herbarium of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi for record. Life-form classes were determined by following Raunkiaer (1934) and Abd el-ghani (2000). The local people were interviewed to get vernacular names of taxa and their local uses and given in Table 1. Results A total of 130 plant species belonging to 105 genera and 37 families have been identified from the study area (Table 1). Their life-span comprised of 52% annual, 40% perennial and 8% biennial (Fig. 1). Family Importance Index (FIV) indicates that Poaceae was the most dominant family in the flora of Koont farm that contributed 23.26% species, followed by Asteraceae (13.18%), Fabaceae (7.75%), Amaranthaceae, Euphorbiaceae (6.15% each), Solanaceae (4.65%) and Boraginaceae (3.10%), while the other 30 families shared 35.66% (Table 2). The whole flora comprised of 97 dicot and 33 monocot families. In addition, most of the species were growing as weeds (90 species) in rabi and kharif crops (Wheat & Brassica respectively). For quick identification, local names were also recorded from the study area and provided in Table 1. There was good diversity of life-forms spectrum of the existing flora. Therophytes were the most abundant life form represented 43% of the total flora, followed by phanerophytes (19%), cryptophytes (15%), hemicryptophytes (13%) and Xeropsammophytes (10%) (Fig. 2). Herbs were dominating the area with 47.69%, followed by grasses (23.08) and shrubs (20.00%), while rest of the habit forms were less in percentage (Fig. 3). * E-mail: phytotaxonomist@gmail.com, rahmatullahq@yahoo.com, rahmatullahq@uaar.edu.pk Table 1. Plant species along with family, local names and habit, life-span and life-forms from university research farm at Koont and its surrounding areas.