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When studying lichens in Pakistan, we came across a crustose species with small to moderate squamulose on a thin blackish hypothallus with a dry, rough, gray-brown to the black upper surface. The standard chemical tests integrated with conventional to modern taxonomic tools were used to name the specimen. Consequently, with minor differences in the morphology, and no difference in nucleotides, the lichen species was baptized Parmeliella thriptophylla (Ach.) Müll. Arg. The descriptive taxonomy and n-ITS-based phylogeny of this species with its habitus are presented in this study. No previous record of this species, genus, or family was found in Pakistan.

This project tries to artificially grow one of the most ornamentally significant Petunia hybrida when it is out of season. Murashige and Skoog Basal Medium (MS Basal Medium) was used for in vitro growth of P. hybrida, supplemented with different Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs). Various physical and chemical factors on in vitro growth of P. hybrida using different explants were analyzed. The type of auxin that proved significant for somatic embryogenesis of P. hybrida Vilm was 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2.0 mg/L) using the leaf as explant under controlled environmental conditions, i.e., 92% at 23oC with a 5.8 pH and 16 hours photoperiod & 30g/l sucrose in. Friable calli were also developed from leaf, node, and internodal explants on a tissue culture medium (MS basal medium) when supplemented with other PGRs in certain combinations i.e. 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2.0 mg/L), Benzyl Amino Purine (2.5mg/L), Benzyl Amino Purine + 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2mg/L +2.5mg/L), Naphthalene Acetic Acid (1.5mg/L), 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid + Naphthalene Acetic Acid (2mg/L+1.5mg/L) and Benzyl Amino Purine + Naphthalene Acetic Acid (2.5mg/L+0.5mg/L) at optimal physical factors under strict aseptic environment. These results may enable one to produce the required type of P. hybrida Vilm during off and on seasons on a commercial scale by using plant tissue culture as a tool.

A new species in Megasporaceae, Aspiciliella pakistanica is described and illustrated from Pakistan. A comparative morpho–anatomical study and ITS–based molecular analysis confirmed its position within the recently resurrected genus Aspiciliella. The taxon is characterized by whitish–grey thalli having large and thick areoles without pale lines on the surface, and a discontinuous algal layer arranged in groups of vertical rows. Its positioning in a separate branch in the phylogenetic tree also makes it distinct from the other known species of the genus.