LAHORE, May 17: The governor has converted Governor House's 14 acres land into a botanical garden and allowed the public sector universities' botanical sciences and horticulture research associates to conduct unrestricted research there.

Governor Khalid Maqbool on Monday inaugurated six blocks in the botanical garden that house 84 families, 362 genera and 4,173 plants of 1,138 different species. The governor said to a gathering of horticulture research associates from Government College University, Lahore, and Agriculture University, Faisalabad, some 25,000 plants would be planted on the sides of pathways of the botanical garden.

He said the botanical garden would serve as a sub-campus for the universities teaching botanical and horticulture sciences. The governor told the gathering that some 150 species of plants of 82 families were planted in the Governor's House in 1862, while last year it was revealed that only 82 species were now available.

He said a project to plant medicinal and ornamental plants had also been started in the garden. The project would complete in a year a cost of Rs1.3 million.