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The flowering plant diversity in Nepal is very rich with wide range of distribution due to overlap of different phytogeographical regions. In this study, we accounted the distribution pattern of genus Taraxacum belonging to the family Asteraceae. We included 14 species of Nepalese species which have wide range of altitudinal distribution i.e. from tropical region of Terai (720 m asl) to high Himalayas (4850 m asl) and east to west horizontal distribution with most of the species dominant in the central region of Nepal. Most of the species disappear or die during the dry winter season and their flowering starts by the starting of the Monsoon. These species within the genus have extended flowering period which is not strictly constrained by the monsoon. Taraxacum species richness increases along the elevation gradient from west to east across Nepal, in relation to the increased intensity of the monsoon.

Introduction: Orthodontic treatment is usually perceived as a lengthy treatment as average treatment time usually last more than a year and may go up to even five years. So, in orthodontic practice the optimum treatment result with minimal treatment time should be the goal of clinicians. Treatment duration varies based on different clinico-environmental factors. Materials & Method: Total 200 cases were randomly selected from the archives of debonded treatment records from the department of orthodontics, Dhulikhel Hospital, Kathmandu University Teaching Hospital. Out of the 200 records, 103 records were fit for the study based on previously set inclusion and exclusion criteria. The selected cases were divided into three different groups: extraction n= 28 (extraction of 4 premolars), partial extraction= 19, (extraction of 1-3 teeth) and non-extraction n=56. Furthermore, the cases were also divided into Class I, II and III malocclusion patterns. After doing the test of normality, descriptive statistics, independent samples t test and ANOVA test were performed to compare the treatment duration with respect to gender, malocclusion pattern and treatment modalities. Result: Out of the 103 selected cases, maximum number of cases were of Class I(60) followed by Class II(37) and Class III(6). There was no statistical significance on treatment duration among male and female subjects (p= 0.933) as well as among different malocclusion pattern ( p= 0.255). On the contrary, there was statistical difference on treatment duration among non extraction, partial extraction and extraction groups ( p=0.0004). The average treatment duration for non extraction, partial extraction and extraction group were 22, 28 and 29 months respectively. Conclusion: Orthodontic treatment duration is shorter for therapies done by non extraction than extraction. The average treatment duration for non extraction and extraction therapy is 22 and 29 months respectively. The treatment duration is not affected by gender and type of malocclusion.

Morphological variation of leaf pattern is very common in flowering plants to non-flowering plants that were used to differentiate the species in genus to species level. In this study, we used leaf morphology as the key characters to separate the species of Nepalese Taraxacum. Samples were collected from different parts of Nepal and herbarium specimen were observed to find the variation between the different species of Taraxacum. Our study shows that the presence of two distinct group in this genus Taraxacum. Taxa one is characterized by leaf with double margin (e.g. Taraxacum eriopodum along with 3 other species) and another group is characterized by leaf with single margin (e.g. Taraxacum tibetanum along with 5 other species).