International Journal of Horticulture, 2017, Vol. 7, No. 25, 229-238
229
Research Article Open Access
Preliminary Study of Aquatic and Marshland Angiosperms of QillaSaifullah
Tehsil, District QillaSaifullah, Balochistan, Pakistan
Sarfaraz Khan Marwat
1
, Fazal-ur-Rehman
2
, Kamran Ishaq
3
, Imdad Ullah
1
,
Asghar Ali Khan
1
, Salma Shaheen
1
, Said Salman
1
,
Mohammad Munir
1
, Abdur Rehman
1
1 Faculty of Agriculture, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan, KPK, Pakistan
2 Faculty of Pharmacy, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan, KPK, Pakistan
3 Agriculture Extension Department District Sherani, Zhob, Balochistan, Pakistan
Corresponding email
International Journal of Horticulture, 2017, Vol. 7, No.25 doi
Received: 08 Sep., 2017
Accepted: 15 Sep., 2017
Published: 20 Oct., 2017
Copyright
©2017 Marwat et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Marwat S.K., Rehman F., Ishaq K., Ullah I, Khan A.A., Shaheen S., Salman S., Munir M., and Rehman A., 2017, Preliminary study of aquatic and marshland
angiosperms of qillasaifullah tehsil, district QillaSaifullah, Balochistan, Pakistan, International Journal of Horticulture, 7(25): 229-238 (doi:
Abstract
The present preliminary study is based on the results of the research work carried out in Qilla Saifullah Tehsil, District
Qilla Saifullah, Balochistan, Pakistan, during 2016. The area was surveyed and collection of hydrophytes and marshland plants was
made from 10 sites of various aquatic habitats. The collected materials were identified with the help of available literature, and
internet and by comparing with herbarium specimens. Data inventory consists of botanical name, family, availability, distribution. In
this study 30 plant species belonging to 16 families were identified. Poaceae was the largest family that contributed 07 species
(23.33%), followed by Typhaceae with 03 species (10%) each, next 6 families, Asteraceae, Brassicaeae, Chenopodiaceae,
Cyperaceae,Polygonaceae and Rnunculaceaewith 02 species (06.66 %) each; while the last 08 families contributed 1 species (3.33%)
each. Detailed account of the semi aquatic and marshland angiosperms of QillaSaifullah is not available. Therefore, the present
study is an attempt to highlight such angiospermic plant species. Hence more work is needed to be done in this regard.
Keywords
Hydrophytes; Marshland; QillaSaifullah; Angiosperms
1 Introduction
District QillaSaifullah is the north-western district of Balochistan province, Pakistan. This District was named
after Saifullah Khan, who was from the Mirdadzai (Khodadzai) tribe of KakarSunzerKhail. Area-wise district
QillaSaifullah ranks 15th (ranking order: smallest to the largest) in Balochistan and has an area of 6,831square
kilometers. It lies between 67°17'37"-69°22'54" East longitudes and 30°30'35"-31°37'10" North latitude. Mean
annual rainfall in KillaSaifullah ranges between 125 and 500 millimeters, most of which falls in winter as
snowfall. The total Mean Rainfall is 279.1 mm, Max. Temp is 27.0°C, Min Temp is 11.4°C. QillaSaifullah has a
desert climate. The driest month is October, with 3 mm of rainfall. The greatest amount of precipitation occurs in
March, with an average of 38 mm. The warmest month of the year is July, with an average temperature of 27.6°C.
The lowest average temperatures in the year occur in January, when it is around 4.9°C. There are three tehsils of
District QillaSaifullah, tehsil QillaSaifullah, Loi Band and Muslim Bagh (Pervez et al., 2011)
Aquatic angiosperms are defined as obvious plants that live in water bodies e.g., ponds, lakes and stream. They
may also be differentiated as plants that develop near the shores of flowing and stagnant aquatic bodies
(Sculthorpe, 1967; Cook, 1974).
Hydrophytes are indispensable for the prevention of too much muddiness and erosion of soil and to maintain
delicate balance of nutrients in water. Plants growing by the side of the banks of ponds make available habitat for
water fowl, protection to fishes, and increases the plankton bulk (Ahmad and Younas, 1979). Water plants play an
essential role in keeping well ecosystems as providing food, medicines and building materials. Aquatic
angiosperms are a major part of the World’s flora (Sardar et al., 2013). About 79 families and 380 genera include
aquatic angiospermic species (Cook et al., 1974). Usually the internal structures of different parts (such as cortex
