Abstract
The present study was carried out to explore and document traditional ethnobotanical knowledge of indigenous rural communities of Shiwalik mountainous range regarding tree flora of the area, District Bhimber of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. The local people of the area primarily depend on wild flora for life sustenance and cure of different infirmities. In this research, data was collected through visual appraisal and participatory rural approach using questionnaire method by applying semi-structured and structured-interview protocols (S4 Table). To validate and explore novelty of research work, various quantitative ethnobotanical indices like informant consensus factor, use value index, fidelity level, relative frequency of citation, relative importance of plants, rank order of priority, Jaccard index and priority ranking were used. The highest ICF was found for jaundice with 0.91 value followed by ICF values of 0.89, 0.86 and 0.85 for wounds, skin diseases and stomach pains, respectively. Fidelity level predicted that Azadirachta indica (Indian lilac tree) ranked first (100%) for its prevalent use in ethnomedicines. Highest use value index (0.61) was found for Azadirachta indica while the highest relative frequency of citation (55) was measured for Melia azedarach. The relative order of priority index was the highest for Azadirachta indica and Acacia arabica L. (ROP = 100) depicting their prevalent use in ethnomedicines. For EB study, the highest relative importance (50.8) was found for Azadirachta indica with good number of agro-uses and its seeds and bark are sold or marketed in local markets to prepare herbal therapeutics by indigenous practioners. The Jaccard index depicted that many traditional ethnomedicinal uses of prescribed trees were novel in recipe form or first time reported such as Senegalia modesta (Phulai) resin was used to prepare ‘Panjoori’ a local tonic prepared from cow or buffalo butter mixing with seeds of Papaver somnifera (Kashkhash) and Prunus amygdalus (Badaam). The wood of many trees like Pinus roxburghii (pine), Dalbergia sissoo (rosewood), Senegalia modesta (Phulai), Acacia. Arabica (kikar), Bombax cieba (cotton tree) is commercially sold as timber in markets (S3 Table). The research proved that population explosion and climate changes have triggered severe biotic and abiotic pressure on tree flora of the study area of Bhimber, AJK. The research describes that plants like Terminalia belerica (belerica), Terminalia arjuna (arjun tree), Cassia fistula (Indian laburnum), Butea monosperma (bastard teak), Phyllanthus emblica (Indian gooseberry), Morus laevigata (Shah toot), Bauhinia variegata (orchid tree) and Flacourtia indica (Indian plum/ kakoo) are threatened species and their population is highly reduced and if reclamation measures for their conservation are not taken, it may lead towards their complete loss from the area. This research recommends sustainable ethnobotanical use of tree flora, their growth and conservation for green and ecofriendly environment for safe and secure future of human generation.
Highlights
Plants being autotrophic acts as primary source of nutrition on earth
It is concluded that tree flora of Shiwalik Mountian Range (SMR) areas of District Bhimber has great impact on daily life of indigenous inhabitants
They obtained many of the basic necessities from these tree species to sustain the life. Many of these taxa are prevalent used in multifarious TEMs and EB uses in different villages and ethnic communities
Summary
Plants being autotrophic acts as primary source of nutrition on earth. All other life forms depend directly or indirectly on plants for various purposes [1]. Trees have great significance in ecosystem and provide multifarious uses for local people of any area in world such as fuelwood, shadow, agriculture tools, furniture, housemaking, decoration, war-tools, fodder, forage, medicines and fruits as food etc [12, 13]. The current research study is conducted on tree flora of Shiwalik mountaineous range of District Bhimber (AJK) with multifarious objectives: (i) to collect and document traditional ethnobotanical knowledge of tree flora, (ii) to validate authenticity of collected data using quantitative statistical tools to explore highly potential medicinal trees for novel drug discovery through dedicated ethnopharmacological approaches and (iii) to determine causes of pressure on tree flora and their conservation status with provident recommendations to mitigate and eradicate it cause of tree diversity. Ethnobotanical data of tree flora was collected from local people inhabitating in different villages of Shiwalik mountaineous range, fuelwood and timber sale points from District Bhimber during 2015–17. The collected plants were identified by taxonomist (Dr Muhammad Ishtiaq) and were crossed checked with Flora of Pakistan (booklets), online flora of Pakistan (www.efloras.org) and plant list website (www.theplantlist.org) for proper authentication of botanical names and families [39]
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