Established in 1924 as Department of Botany, the Institute of Botany is one of the oldest seats of learning in this university. Originally, it was housed in the premises of Government College, Lahore, and MSc teaching was conducted in collaboration with the faculty of the College. It moved to the new campus in 1963 and was housed in various buildings before shifting to the present building in 1973.
Before 2001, only MSc and PhD programs were offered but in the past many years, the Institute has developed an elaborate program of teaching and research for BS, MSc, MPhil/MS and PhD. The Institute is known by the research of its faculty members in the areas of Tissue Culture, Proteomics, Genomics, Molecular Genetics, Environmental Biotechnology, Palaeobotany and Palynology, Mycology and Fungal Systematics, Microbiology, Stress Physiology and Ecology. The Institute has ten research laboratories with an elaborate research program involving national and international collaborations with academia, industry and government organizations. Currently, many research projects are being run by the faculty members.
The Institute has a Library, Computer laboratory, a Common Room, Seed Centre, Botanical Garden, Greenhouses and Climatic rooms for research experiments.