Medicinal Plants

An ethno medicinal survey was carried out to collect information regarding the various traditional uses, especially the medicinal plant uses in Nandiar Khuwarr catchment.Aims of the study were to document the medicinal plant resources and their use patterns. A total of 160 taxa were reported as locally used for various medicinal purposes. Majority of the recipes are prepared in the form of decoction from freshly collected plant parts. Mostly a single species were used and mainly taken orally. All of these plants are collected from the wild, 12 of which are reported as scarce locally. They used medicinal plants for asthma, cough, tonic, abdominal pain, expectorant, anthalmintic, carminative, on boils, snakebites, jaundice, diarrhea and dysentery etc. Among 160 medicinal plants 22 were used for curing livestock.The trends like urbanization, deforestation, over grazing, habitat fragmentation, unscientific extraction of natural vegetation, introduction of the exotic taxa and habitat loss were the visible threats. Measures for the conservation of plant resources especially medicinal plants of Nandiar Khuwarr catchment are urgently needed.

Autorentext

Dr. Faizul Haq Professor de Botânica, Faculdade Governamental de Battagram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Paquistão.