Medicinal plants are indicators of indigenous knowledge in the context of political volatility and sociocultural and ecological change in the Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Medicinal plants are the primary health care option in this region of Central Asia. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate that medicinal plants contribute to health security and sovereignty in a time of instability. We illustrate the nutritional as well as medicinal significance of plants in the daily lives of villagers. Based on over a decade and half of research related to resilience and livelihood security, we present plant uses in the context of mountain communities. Villagers identified over 58 cultivated and noncultivated plants and described 310 distinct uses within 63 categories of treatment and prevention. Presence of knowledge about medicinal plants is directly connected to their use.

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The genus Kirinia was described from the Far East and contains two species, i.e. Kirinia epimenides and Kirinia fentoni (= K. epaminondas). Later, the other four species ranging in Central and Western Asia and on the Balkan Peninsula were transferred to this genus based on morphological features of the male genitalia. This action was incorrect and is not confirmed by our novel molecular data. Here, we restore the genus Esperarge Nekrutenko, 1988 stat. rev. with four species, i.e. E. eversmanni comb. rev., E. cashmirensis comb. rev., E. roxelana comb. rev., and E. climene comb. rev. Additionally, the subspecies Esperarge eversmanni shiva syn. nov. is considered a junior synonym of E. e. unicolor.