Department of Botany is the oldest one, established in 1912. Prof. Shiv Ram Kashyap established the Herbarium when he joined as Chairperson of the department. He added wide range of plant specimens from various parts of Indian subcontinent which he collected himself. This serves the purpose for the establishment of the Herbarium along with museum. His contributions are evident from his masterpiece work in form of “Flora of Lahore District” published in 1936. Monograph of Family Cyperaceae and Poaceae was lateron published in revised form by the 2nd Head of the Department i.e., Prof. Amar Chand Joshi in 1936 through Government College Lahore.
In recognition to the services of Dr. Sultan (1950-1970) a renowned mycologist, taxonomist, in 2002 the Government College University Herbarium was named as Dr. Sultan Ahmad Herbarium. He was the most distinguished student of Prof. Kashyap. He born at Ladhar of Sheikhupura District in 1910. He did his M.Sc. (Hons.) in Botany (1933) and Ph.D. from Punjab University on “Gastromycetes” while in 1951 he took the charge of Herbarium of Punjab University & Government College Lahore. He was considered as an outstanding authority on “Fungi” of Pakistan and has added 200 species as new records. He also contributed in “Monocots” by his famous book “Grasses and Sedges of Lahore”.
This herbarium has century old specimens among which the valuable collection of the plants by Devi Dayal from 1926-28 is now enhancing the antiquity of the herbarium and demonstrated on the walls of the hallway of the Department which reminds the reminiscences of the glorious past of the Department. Other specimens that represent Government College University heritage were collected by the Mr. Daulat Ram in 1928 and by Mr. Raghbir Parshad in 1941. In April, 1938 to promote the cause of the Herbarium and to create interest among students of Botany a best Collector award (Bishambar Das memorial Prize for best collection of Botanical specimens.
