Quantitative Ethnobotanical Study of Indigenous Knowledge on Medicinal Plants Used by the Tribal Communities of Gokand Valley, District Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

The current study on the traditional use of medicinal plants was carried out from February 2018 to March 2020, in Gokand Valley, District Buner, Pakistan. The goal was to collect, interpret, and evaluate data on the application of medicinal plants. Along with comprehensive notes on individual plants species, we calculated Use Value (UV), Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC), Use Report (UR), Fidelity Level (FL), Informant Consensus Factor (FCI), as well as Family Importance Value (FIV). During the current study, a total of 109 species belonging to 64 families were reported to be used in the treatment of various ailments. It included three families (four species) of Pteridophytes, 58 families (99 species) of angiosperm, one family (three species) of Gymnosperms, and two families (three species) of fungi. The article highlights the significance of domestic consumption of plant resources to treat human ailments. The UV varied from 0.2 (Acorus calamus L.) to 0.89 (Acacia modesta Wall.). The RFC ranged from 0.059 (Acorus calamus L. and Convolvulus arvensis L.) to 0.285 (Acacia modesta Wall.). The species with 100% FL were Acacia modesta Wall. and the fungus Morchella esculenta Fr., while the FCI was documented from 0 to 0.45 for gastro-intestinal disorders. The conservation ranks of the medicinal plant species revealed that 28 plant species were vulnerable, followed by rare (25 spp.), infrequent (17 spp.), dominant (16 spp.), and 10 species endangered. The traditional use of plants needs conservation strategies and further investigation for better utilization of natural resources.

Quantitative Ethnobotanical Analysis of Medicinal Plants of High-Temperature Areas of Southern Punjab, Pakistan

“…Several studies have confirmed the extensive use of medicinal plants as observed in the present study [42,51,52]. A single plant or parts of a plant species can be used for traditional herbal medicines [22,52]; however, several reports have indicated that a single herbal recipe for particular diseases can be prepared using different plant species [3]. The therapeutic plants are vital in treating diseases of about 80% of the people from emerging economies [53,54].…”

“…Moreover, other Asian countries are also investing more energy and money in the discovery of herbal drugs. Asian communities are experts in the usage of medicinal plants for the treatment of common local diseases [3]. Interestingly, both men and women are well informed from their ancestors regarding traditional treatment with medicinal plants.…”

“…The present research work is novel compared to ethnomedicinal literature of other areas of Southern Punjab [3,55,56]. The results only have been compared to ethnomedicinal literature of neighboring areas because the distant areas have fewer similarities.…”

“…Over the past few decades, several studies have indicated that the use of medicinal plants to treat various ailments is a common trend around the world [1][2][3]. Ethnobotanical surveys are often conducted to evaluate the complex connection between local communities and wild species of plants [4].…”

The use of antimalarial plants as traditional treatment in Papua Island, Indonesia

“…The FIV was calculated to identify the significance of plant families and it is an essential index in ethnobotany in estimating the amount of plant taxon. This value was calculated using a formula cited by Sulaiman et al (2020) [22]:…”