Abstract
Abstract An ethnomedicinal expedition was conducted to collect and record indigenous knowledge about the use of medicinal plants by local inhabitants of four villages (Chittra, Topi, Pandi, and Kalri) of district Bagh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Ethnomedicinal data were obtained from 60 randomly selected local inhabitants of the study area through semi-structured questionnaires and interviews. These data were analyzed quantitatively through different ethnobotanical indices including family importance value, relative frequency of citation, use value (UV), fidelity level (FL), informant consensus factor (ICF), and Jaccard index (JI). our study reported 69 medicinal plants belonging to 39 families. Rosaceae (9 species) was a dominant family of the study area. Herb (54.83%) was dominant growth form of plants used for medicinal purpose. Leaves contributed maximum usage (44.29%) for curing diseases. Decoction (23 records) was most used mode of utilization. Relative frequency of citation and UV ranged from 0.03–0.85 and 0.05–1.17, respectively. There were 4 plant species with 100% FL. Highest ICF (0.88%) was found for gastrointestinal diseases. By comparing results with previous study, JI ranged from 0.54 to 24.43%. Our results found that there were 18 plant species not reported with ethnomedicinal aspect in previous studies from district Bagh region. The research of this study concludes that the area is rich with medicinal plants and the local inhabitant of this area still prefer medicinal plants over allopathic medicines for treating different ailments. Comparative analysis has shown some novel uses of plant species which may be due to cultural differences of the study area. However, awareness and pharmacological study are needed to conserve and unveil pharmaceutically important plants.
Highlights
The aims of this study were: (i) To explore the medicinal plants from four villages (Chittra, Topi, Pandi, and Kalri) of district Bagh, AJK. (ii) To analyze the information with quantitative ethnobotanical indices. (iii) To compare the ethnobotanical information with previous studies reported from district Bagh
Present study has been conducted in four villages (Chittra, Topi, Pandi, and Kalri) of district Bagh, AJK
Our results showed that highest use value (UV) containing species in the study area were Berberis lyceum (1.17), Mentha longifolia (1.17), Bergenia ciliata (1.13), Zanthoxylum armatum (1.13), Viola odorata (1.03), Persicaria amplexicaulis (1.02), Diospyros lotus (0.98), Melia azedarach L. (0.98), Taraxacum officinale (0.98), Solanum nigrum (0.97), Punica granatum (0.97), Amarathus viridis (0.93), and Juglans regia (0.88) (Table 1)
Summary
Plants are considered indispensable for sustenance of life because rural communities belonging to different countries use local plants for different purposes. Important plants are considered as a main source of medicine for majority of population inhabited in rural areas. Ethnobotany correlates the medicinal use of plants by local inhabitants of an area. Ethnobotanical study of an area reflects the awareness among local inhabitants about medicinal usage and application of plants against diseases. Almost all plants have active constituents effective for diseases but some plants are much rich with these chemicals and are preferred for disease treatment [2]. These phytochemicals include b-amyron, stigmasterol, luteolin, arachidic acid, palmitic acid, flavonoids, etc. These phytochemicals include b-amyron, stigmasterol, luteolin, arachidic acid, palmitic acid, flavonoids, etc. [3]
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