Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants of Namal valley, Salt Range, Pakistan

Abstract

This paper presents the first quantitative ethnobotanical knowledge and practices of using native plants for different ailments from Namal Valley of Pakistan. Data was gathered by interviewing 350 informants through semi-structured questionnaires. A total of 217 taxa belonging to 166 genera and 70 families were documented. Fabaceae and Asteraceae families were found to be the most cited families (with 19 and 18 species receptively). Herbs represent the most cited life form (71%) and flower was the most widely used part (34.8%) with decoction as main mode of the utilization (41.5%). On the basis of use values, the most commonly used ethnobotanical taxa in the Valley were reported to be Euphorbia heterophylla (0.7) and Merremia dissecta (0.6). The highest RFC value was noted for Aloe vera (0.14) while highest ICF value was estimated for dental problems category (0.7). Maximum similarity index was found in the studies with Bana Valley (JI 23.9). Similarity percentage of plants uses ranges from 0% to 15.7 (Bana Valley), while dissimilarity percentage varies up to 32.5% (Soon Valley). This study highlights the medicinal flora of study area that will serve as baseline for conservation and sustainable utilization through future research on bio prospecting of potential species to develop novel drugs.