Hazara University's Monocot Specimen Data in OpenHerbarium.org on 20 December 2023

Northern Pakistan is interpreted here as including three administrative regions: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It is dominated by multiple mountain ranges whose valleys drain, directly or indirectly, into the Indus River. Hazara University, which is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was started in 2002 and its herbarium (HUP) in 2005. Digitization of the herbarium's vascular plants began in 2021 with its records being shared in OpenHerbarium and GBIF. Its online presence is now growing more rapidly than any other Pakistani herbarium. This paper summarizes the taxonomic diversity and geographic origin of its monocot holdings in 2023. In 2023, the Hazara University Herbarium held 744 monocot specimens from Northern Pakistan. They belonged to 9 orders, 23 families, 126 genera, amd 299 species. Most specimens belonged to the Poales, with many more belonging to the Poaceae than to the Cyperaceae, the family with the next best representation in the collection. Two orders, Acorales and Dioscoreales were represented by only one specimen each. Slightly more than half the species were represented by only one specimen; eleven species were represented by 9 or more specimens. Comparison with a checklist developed from multiple sources, including a GBIF download, revealed that HUP did not have any reprsentatives of five families that other sources report as occurring in Northern Pakistan: Juncaginaceae, Potamogetonaceae, Nartheciaceae, Pontederiaceae, and Musaceae.Most of the herbarium's specimens were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the university's home province, the fewest from Gilgit-Baltistan. The best represented districts (level 3 regions) were Districts Swat, Chitral, and Lower Dir in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Neelum in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, all of which are known for their scenic beauty and floristic wealth. The best represented district of Gilgit-Baltistan was Hunza which is home to three passes through the Karakoram Mountains.