Abstract
Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan is gifted with tremendous natural resources. Plant resources have long been used to cure different human as well as livestock ailments in this part like others in the world. This study was conducted to document the indigenous and traditional uses of medicinal plants, the status of traditional knowledge with the advancement of technology and modern healthcare facilities to find out the mode, part and way of usage and more importantly to know the threats for the plant resources to provide a baseline survey for conservation and management of medicinal plants. Field visits were conducted to collect the plant species in June and July, 2012. The information on local names and uses were collected from the local communities and herbalist through direct interview, questioners and showing photographs. The identification and nomenclature of the plant species was made by consulting different taxonomists and available literature especially following the flora of Pakistan. The data was analyzed using Excel spreadsheets and preference ranking, paired comparison test and direct matrix ranking. A total of 34 species belonging to 18 were used as medicine. Males above 40 years were found to be more knowledgeable regarding uses of medicinal plants than women and youngsters. The leaves are the most common part of plants used as medicine. Medicinal plants are in severe under pressure of over grazing, cutting and climate change impacts. Conservation of medicinal plants, awareness among the local inhabitants and promotion of indigenous knowledge by promotion of research activities are required. Key words: Ghizer, ethnobotany, traditional uses, medicinal plants, diseases, threats, conservation.
Highlights
The use of plant by man is dated back to the human existence on earth
A total of 34 species belonging to 18 families in which 8 were Asteraceae, 5 were Fabaceae, Apiaceae, cupressaceae, Lamiaceae, polygonaceae and Solanaceae having 2 of each, while Berberidaceae, Elaeagnaceae, Ephedraceae, Moraceae, Rosaceae, Saxifragaceae, Salicaceae, Urticaceae, Violaceae and Zygophylaceae having only 1 species of each, were discovered to have been used mostly for curing different diseases as mentioned in the Figure 2
When the plants were ranked after paired comparison test, It was found that 3 plant species fall in rank 1, 5 in 2, in 3 and 4 each and 12 plant species fall in rank 5
Summary
The use of plant by man is dated back to the human existence on earth. Wild plants have always been the matter of high concern and have always been used for their potential of human well being (Ali et al, 2003). Like many other countries of the world got rich plant resources used for medicinal as well as for other. Pakistan has more than 6,000 species of higher plants (Ali and Qaiser, 1986; Shinwari and Qaiser, 2011). Northern Pakistan (Gilgit-Baltistan), harbors many of the endemic species, and many of the genera have been originated and radiated such as Astragalus spp., Causinia spp. and Alliums pp. The uses of many medicinal plants in management of infection diseases including bacteria are well known and validated in many cases (Zahin et al, 2010).
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