Ethnomedicinal knowledge of the rural communities of Dhirkot, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan

Abstract

Background Being an isolated locality and having a tough mountainous terrain, strong ethnomedicinal practices still prevail in Dhirkot and its allied areas, which have been rarely explored yet. The present study was intended with the aim to document and compare the traditional knowledge of local communities on botanical taxa of Dhirkot, Azad Jammu, and Kashmir. Methodology Ethnomedicinal data were collected from 74 informants using a semi-structured questionnaire in addition to field observation and group discussion. Various indices were also used to evaluate the ethnomedicinal data. Furthermore, the present findings were compared with previous reports to assess data novelty. Result A total of 140 medicinal plant species belonging to 55 families were recorded, which are used by local communities to treat 12 disease categories. Asteraceae was dominating with 20 species, followed by Poaceae, Lamiaceae, and Rosaceae (14, 11, and 10 species, respectively). Herbs were leading with 66% contribution, whereas leaves were the most utilized plant part with 29% utilization and decoction was the common mode of administration. Viola canescens depicted the highest use value and relative frequency of citation (1.7 and 0.92, respectively). Maximum informant consensus factor (0.88) was calculated for digestive and liver disorders. Five plant species including Berberis lycium Mentha arvensis Pyrus malus , Taraxacum officinale , and Viola canescens had 100% fidelity level. Conclusion Dhirkot and its allied areas harbor rich botanical and cultural diversity because of its unique geography and diverse climatic conditions. However, mostly, traditional ethnobotanical knowledge is restricted to healers, midwives, and older people, and could be extinct in the near future. Therefore, such documentation not only conserves traditional knowledge but may also contribute significantly to novel drug resources.

Ethnobotanical Survey of Medicinal Flora of Harighal, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan

“…The natives have too much ethnomedicinal knowledge regarding these plants. Therefore, importance of these species increase as the number of treated systems increases [46,103,105].…”

“…These species were mostly used to cure the digestive problems like diarrhea, dysentery, indigestion, stomach-ache and gastrointestinal pain etc. High FL of a species reflects extensive use of a specific plant species to treat a specific disease dominant in area[30,34,103]. Species with high FL value are important model plants which can be subjected to further pharmacological studies[49,61,106].…”

“…Species with high FL value are important model plants which can be subjected to further pharmacological studies[49,61,106]. Some other studies in literature also recoded high fidelity level for species used to cure digestive problems[30,103,107]. The species with low FL values were not well known by the natives in term of ethnomedicinal knowledge.…”

“…The species with low FL values were not well known by the natives in term of ethnomedicinal knowledge. This forecast that may be in upcoming generation the ethnobotanical knowledge about these plant species may be completely depleted[49,103,108].…”

Ethno-medicinal knowledge of a marginal hill community of Central Himalayas: Diversity, usage pattern and conservation concerns

“…Lastly, latex and bulb part of the plants were the least utilized part of plant. Tables 1 & 2 provides the different type of mode of preparation and administration of the plant species to treat different type of healthcare ailments and out of the 10 types of mode of administration of the medicines, decoction and ingestion are widely practiced to be given to the affected ones (Fig 4).The major method of preparation was the decoction has been reported previously [38][39][40][41][42]. Poultice and cooking were also favored for many medicinal plants to be administered in treatment of any ailment.…”