Fungi of Pakistan - Paperback

by Bilal Chaudhry (Author), Imran Chaudhry (Author), Maaria Chaudhry (Author)

The present Monograph dealt with 1219 species of Fungi recorded from the area now comprising the Province of Pakistan. Up to 1947 this area was a part of the British India and its mycoflora was listed by Butler & Bisby (1931) and Mundkur (1938). These Monographs recorded no more than 198 species from this region; an unusually low record for so vast an area (over 300,000 sq. miles). Most of the 1,000 records added from 1938 to 1956 were by the author himself, Dr Sultan Ahmad. He felt convinced that he was only able to list a very small fraction of the entire mycoflora of this region. The Divisions of Kalat, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Quetta and Dera Ismail Khan had either remained totally unexplored, or only a few sporadic records had been made from there. All that was needed was a brilliant Pioneer and he would find hundreds if not thousands of species of Fungi previously never recorded. Until such a time that an extensive and expansive effort to discover the thousands of unrecorded species of Fungi in West Pakistan. Dr Sultan Ahmad felt it paramount that he presented his list of only 1219 species. Butler & Bisby and Mundkur listed no more than 3000 species of Fungi from the whole of British India and Burma covering an area five times as large again as West Pakistan. It had remained Dr Sultan Ahmad's fervent hope that that this Monograph and his other publications would serve to stimulate further research on systematic Mycology. 15th July, Dr Sultan Ahmad Ph.D. D.Sc (1910-1983) -Former Professor and Head of the Department of Botany, Government College Lahore -Professor Emeritus, The University of the Punjab -Awarded the Tamgha-i-Quaid-e-Azam by the government of Pakistan. -Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences

Author Biography

Dr. Sultan Ahmad was born on 6th June 1910 at Ladhar, Sheikhupura, Punjab. He obtained his M.Sc degree in 1932 from the University of the Punjab, Lahore where he worked with Prof. S.R. Kashyap on Aithisoniel/a himalyensis Kash. He also obtained the B.Ed. degree from the Punjab University, Lahore in 1934 and served as a teacher in a High School in Gujrat and then as a Lecturer in Biology at Rohtak. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, he returned to Labore and joined the Government College, Lahore. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1950 for his work on Gasteromycetes of West Pakistan which he submitted under the supervision of Professor Dr. Ahmad Ali Qureshi and later D.Sc in 1957 from the University of the Punjab. Dr. Sultan Ahmad retired as Professor and Head of the Department of Botany, Government College Lahore in 1970. The University of the Punjab appointed him as Professor Emeritus in 1972 and Dr. Sultan Ahmad continued to involve him- self in research work on the fungi of Pakistan. Dr. Sultan Ahmad has been an eminent contributor to the study of fungi of Pakistan where descriptions of over 2500 species of fungi have been recorded by him in his monumental works on Gastromycetes of Pakistan (1952), Fungi of West Pakistan (1956, 1969), Basidomycetes of Pakistan (1972), Uredinales of West Pakistan (1956), Ustilaginales of West Pakistan (1956), Pezizales of West Pakistan (1955), Ascomycetes of Pakistan (1978), besides a series of research papers on fungi which he published with B.B. Mundkur, E. Muller, J. Boidin, L.W. Wehmeyer etc., in Lloydia, Farlowia, Sydowia, Biologia and other scientific journals of international repute. He is botanically remembered by names of different taxa of fungi and mosses viz., Gimmia ahmadiana Noguchi, Amphididmyella ahmadiaii Millier, Xylosphaeria ahmadii Petr., Dictyoporthe ahmadii Petr., Humaria ahmadii Cash., Leptostroma ahmadii Petr., CercQSpora ahmadii Petr., Mycothyridium ahmadii (Boidin) Boidin, Helminthosporium ahmadii M.B. Ellis Coniothyrium sultanii Abbas, Phyllosticta sultanii Abbas and Phyllosticta Ahmadii Abbas which have been named after Dr. Sultan Ahmad. His vast collection of fungal specimens were placed in the Mycological Herbarium of the Department of Botany, University of the Punjab, Lahore, and also duplicates in Herb. I.M.I, Kew, Surrey, England and also in the Mycological Herbarium of USDA, Beltsville, MD, USA.