Abstract
BackgroundMedicinal plants are the basic source of health care in the Pearl Valley District Poonch, Azad Jammu, and Kashmir. The basic aim of present study was to record information about the use of plants in herbal preparation and quantification of recorded data.Materials and methodsThe research was conducted with the null hypothesis that there was no differential distribution of knowledge among the communities between genders and among different age groups in the study area and across cultural medicinal uses of the plants are similar. To check these hypotheses information about medicinal plants was collected from 46 laypeople and 18 herbalists by using an open ended and semistructured questionnaire. Different ethnobotanical indices were calculated in order to quantify the knowledge on the medicinal plants reported in the study.ResultsOur study recorded 136 species of medicinal plants belonging to 45 families with Asteraceae (14 species) as the dominant family of the area. Decoction (26 species), juice and powder (24 species each) were most common methods of preparation. Spearman’s correlation analysis showed that age and gender had the significant effect on both numbers of mentioned species and different uses. A number of known medicinal plants and the number of different uses (H: 38.51; p < 0.001) differ significantly as indicated by Kruskal-Wallis tests. These results showed that the knowledge about the plant varies among different age groups, which were the first hypothesis of the present study. The highest use values (UVs) were reported for Berberis lyceum and Ajuga bracteosa (1.13 each) followed by Abies pindrow (1.03). Highest informant consensus factor (ICF) values were recorded for digestive system diseases (ICF = 0.90) and muscular and skeletal system diseases (ICF = 0.89). The value of Jaccarad index ranged from 6.11 to 32.97 with an average value of 19.84, percentage of similarity was highest between study area and Pir Lasura National Park (34.62%).ConclusionHigh similarity might be due to the fact that the communities living in these areas have same sociocultural values and have more opportunities to exchange their traditional knowledge. The present study provides practical evidence about the use of medicinal plants among the inhabitants of the Pearl Valley.
Highlights
Ethnobiological knowledge consists of the body of knowledge, beliefs, traditions, and practices that reflect the perception of the local environment by indigenous communities
They represent about 19–23% of the pool of medicinal plants that constitute the pharmaceutical ethnoflora in alpine areas of Pakistan [32]
We found that the species with the highest RCF values in the study area were Zanthoxylum armatum (0.94), Berberis lyceum (0.92), Ajuga bracteosa (0.91), Prunella vulgaris (0.91), Pinus roxburghii (0.91), Adiantum capillus-veneris (0.89), Rosa brunonii (0.89), Albizia lebbeck (0.89), Cedrella serrata (0.84), Punica granatum (0.81) and Jasminum mesnyi (0.80) “Table 1”
Summary
Ethnobiological knowledge consists of the body of knowledge, beliefs, traditions, and practices that reflect the perception of the local environment by indigenous communities. Within the field of ethnobiology, several pieces of research have been devoted to the study of plants used for medical purposes, one of the oldest forms of ethnobotanical and ethnomedical research known [1,2,3]. Quantitative ethnobotany may be defined as "the application of quantitative techniques to the direct analysis of contemporary plant use data" [4, 5]. Quantification and associated hypothesis-testing help to generate quality information, which in turn contributes substantially to resource conservation and development. The application of quantitative techniques to data analysis necessitates refinement of methodologies for data collection. The basic aim of present study was to record information about the use of plants in herbal preparation and quantification of recorded data
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