Ghazanfar, Shahina A.
Job TitleHead of the Temperate Regional Team
DepartmentHerbarium, Library, Art & Archives
SectionRegional Teams
Science Teams:
Joined Kew: 2001
Foreign Language(s): Urdu
Qualifications & Appointments
MSc, Punjab Univ., Pakistan
PhD, Univ. Cambridge, UK
Scientific Committee of Plant Life of South West Asia
Arabian Plant Specialist Group; Medicinal Plant Specialist Groups, IUCN-SSC
Role
The Temperate Region is one of the five Regional Sections. It is responsible for all plant related matters concerning the temperate regions of the world (incl. Europe & British Isles, Middle East, Southwest Asia, Russia, India, China, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Australia, USA).
With my team we are responsible for all curatorial matters, herbarium loan requests (both material and images), plant related queries, research visitors, students, research projects (incl. floristic research, flora writing, collaborative fieldwork, vegetation surveys, teaching), horticultural taxonomy, and provide expertise on projects in the Temperate region. We help develop and manage collaborative projects through consultancies through the Kew Innovations Unit, and as well develop projects with academic and botanical research institutions.
We are involved in several projects in the Middle East, in particular Sultanate of Oman, United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Iraq in preparing floras, checklists and some restoration programmes.
Projects
- Checklist of the Plants of the Arabian Peninsula
- Annotated Checklist of the Plants of Sudan and South Sudan
- Flora of Iraq
- Flora of Oman
- Flora of Pakistan - Rosaceae account
- Halophytes of SW Asia
- Medicinal Plants of the Middle East - COMPLETED 2011
- Publication of 2003 AETFAT proceedings
(project completed 2006) - Reinforcing cooperation between the Royal Botanic Garden of Jordan and the European Research Area (BOT-ERA)
- Tropical Plant Families: An Identification Handbook
- World Monograph of the genus Convolvulus
Selected Recent Publications
Ghazanfar, S.A. (2011) Medicinal plants of the Middle East. In: Ram Singh (ed) Genetic Resources, Chromosome Engineering and Crop Improvement. Pp. 163–180. CRC Press.
Ghazanfar, S.A.. & Osborne, J. (2010) Conservation through restoration: study of a degraded gravel plain in south-eastern Arabia. Pakistan J. Bot. Special Issue 42: 193–204.
Ghazanfar, S.A. and H.J. Beentje (2010). Sabkha regions of Tropical East Africa. In: G.H. Barth & B. Boer (eds) Sabkha ecosystems. Volume 1I1, Africa. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
Ghazanfar, S.A. (2010) Restoring Saline Habitats: Identification and name changes in halophytes of the Arabian Peninsula. In: Munir Ozturk, Ahmet Ruhi Mermut, Ali Celik (eds), Urbanisation, Land Use, Land Degradation and Environment. New Delhi, NAM S&T Centre.
Ghazanfar, S.A. (2010). A new species of Trichodesma (Boraginaceae) from Oman, Arabia. Kew Bulletin. 65: 97–100.
Ghazanfar, S.A. (2008). Conservation in developing countries. Turkish J. Bot. 32: 465–469.
Ghazanfar, S.A. (2007). Flora of Sultanate of Oman, Vol. 2, Crassulaceae-Apiaceae (Text + Photo CD-ROM). Scripta Botanica Belgica Series 36. Belgium: National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Meise. Pp 220.
Ghazanfar, S.A. (2003). Flora of the Sultanate of Oman, Vol. 1, Piperaceae-Primulaceae (Text + photo CD-ROM). Scripta Botanica Belgica Series 25. Belgium: National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Meise. 262 pp.
Selected Earlier Publications
- Ghazanfar, S.A. (2002). A new species of Rhus (Anacardiaceae) from the Sultanate of Oman, Arabia. Kew Bulletin 57: 491–494.
- Ghazanfar, S.A., Keppel, G. & Khan, S. (2001). Coastal vegetation of small islands near Viti Levu and Ovalau, Fiji. New Zealand Journal of Botany 39: 587–600.
- Ghazanfar, S.A. & Fisher, M. (eds) (1998). Vegetation of the Arabian Peninsula. 362 pp. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Press.
- Ghazanfar, S.A. (1998). Status of the flora and plant conservation in the Sultanate of Oman. Biological Conservation 85: 275–285.
- Ghazanfar, S.A. (1997). The phenology of desert plants: a 3–year study in a gravel desert wadi in northern Oman. Journal of Arid Environments 35: 407–417.
