Quantitative ethnomedicinal study of plants used in the skardu valley at high altitude of Karakoram-Himalayan range, Pakistan

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Abstract

Background

The tribal inhabitants of the Skardu valley (Pakistan) live in an area of great endemic botanic diversity. This paper presents the first quantitative ethnomedicinal spectrum of the valley and information on the uses of medicinal plant. This paper aims to analyze and catalogue such knowledge based on Relative Frequency Citation (RFC) and Use Value (UV) of medicinal plants in addition to the configuration of the Pearson correlation coefficient.

Methods

The field study was carried out over a period of approximately 2 years (2011–2013) using semi-structured interviews with 71 informants (most of the informants belonged to an age between 50 and 70 years) in six remote locations in the valley. Ethnomedicinal data was analyzed using frequency citation (FC), relative frequency of citation (RFC) and use value (UV) along with a Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC). Demographic characteristics of participants, ethnobotanical inventory of plants and data on medicinal application and administration were recorded.

Results

A total of 50 medicinal plants belonging to 25 families were reported to be used against 33 different ailments in the valley. The maximum reported medicinal plant families were Asteraceae (7 report species), Lamiaceae (6) , Polygonaceae (4) and Rosaceae (4), the most dominant life form of the species includes herbs (38) followed by shrubs and subshrubs (12), the most frequent used part was leaves (41%) followed by root (26%), flower (14%), fruit (9%), seeds (8%), bulb (1%) and bark (1%), the most common preparation and administration methods were infusion (32%), decoction (26%), paste (18%), herbal juice (17%) and powder drug (7%). The Pearson correlation coefficient between RFC and UV was 0.732 showing highly positive significant association.

Conclusions

In this study, we have documented considerable indigenous knowledge about the native medicinal plants in Skardu valley for treating common ailments which are ready to be further investigated phytochemically and pharmacologically which leads to natural drug discovery development. The study has various socioeconomic dimensions which are associated with the local communities.

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Most cited references 14

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Traditional knowledge on medicinal and food plants used in Val San Giacomo (Sondrio, Italy)--an alpine ethnobotanical study.

Gelsomina Fico, Davide Ciuchi, Cristina Puricelli … (2013)

This work increases the ethnobotanical data from Northern Italy and, in particular, the Lombardy region, till now poorly documented, safeguarding the local folk knowledge, and provides information on new or scarcely reported properties of medicinal plants, whose traditional use needs to be validated experimentally. The present study aimed to gather, analyse and evaluate the ethnobotanical information on the species used for medicinal and food purposes by the native people of Val San Giacomo. The plant use was documented by speaking with more than 100 people, mainly over 60 years old, born and resident in Val San Giacomo. Information was collected using semi-structured interviews and then analysed by indices such as Ethnophytonomic Index (EPI), Ethnobotanicity Index (EI), relative frequency of citation (RFC), use value (UV), relative importance (RI) and factor informant consensus (FIC). Information on 66 plants belonging to 35 families (Asteraceae, Rosaceae and Lamiaceae, mainly) was gathered. The preference ranking placed Achillea moschata Wulfen at first place, both for the citation number and for RFC and UV. Arnica montana L., Thymus pulegioides L. and Artemisia genipi Stechm. were also in relevant use. Sixty species were wild and six were cultivated. Leaves, flowers, complete aerial parts and fruits were the plant parts most commonly used for remedy preparation (infusion, especially). The interviewees collected local flora for medicinal purposes, specifically. About 51.5% of the plant species were used to treat gastrointestinal tract of humans as digestive, depurative, appetiser, laxative, astringent and carminative remedies. About 56% of the plants were used in cookery, 24.2% in veterinary field, and 3% as cosmetics. The calculated indices demonstrated that in the studied area there is a small retention of plant knowledge. Only 6.2% of the autochthonous plants proved useful in folk tradition. Despite this, the uses of Sempervivum montanum L., Rhododendron ferrugineum L. and Panicum miliaceum L. were never documented by other ethnobotanical investigations conducted in the alpine area. This survey was an extension of the ethnobotanical investigations performed in the Italian Alps. A study like this, though performed in a small area with a reduced traditional knowledge, could be the basis for subsequent research on the species that are interesting from a phytochemical point of view and on the potential use of their active metabolites. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by the Zay people in Ethiopia.

Mirutse Giday, Zemede Asfaw, Thomas Elmqvist … (2003)

An ethnobotanical survey was carried out to collect information on the use of medicinal plants by the Zay people who live on islands as well as shore areas of Lake Ziway in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. A total of 33 medicinal plants were reported as being used locally for the treatment and/or control of human and livestock ailments. Results of the survey showed that leaf materials form the major component of plant parts harvested. The majority of the remedies are prepared in the form of juice from freshly collected plant parts. Most of the remedies are prepared from a single species, and are mainly taken orally. Most of the medicinal plants are collected from the wild. Of the total claimed medicinal plants, 10 were reported scarce locally. Environmental degradation and intense deforestation have been reported as the main causes for the depletion of medicinal plants in the area. As the Zay people are still partly dependent on medicinal plants, loss of these plants will, to a certain extent, hamper the existing health care system in the area. Measures for conservation of medicinal plants of the Zay people are urgently needed.

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An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants commercialized in the markets of La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia.

Danielle Vidaurre, E. García Álvarez, Manuel J. Macía (2005)

An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants marketed in La Paz and El Alto cities in the Bolivian Andes, reported medicinal information for about 129 species, belonging to 55 vascular plant families and one uncertain lichen family. The most important family was Asteraceae with 22 species, followed by Fabaceae s.l. with 11, and Solanaceae with eight. More than 90 general medicinal indications were recorded to treat a wide range of illnesses and ailments. The highest number of species and applications were reported for digestive system disorders (stomach ailments and liver problems), musculoskeletal body system (rheumatism and the complex of contusions, luxations, sprains, and swellings), kidney and other urological problems, and gynecological disorders. Some medicinal species had magic connotations, e.g. for cleaning and protection against ailments, to bring good luck, or for Andean offerings to Pachamama, 'Mother Nature'. In some indications, the separation between medicinal and magic plants was very narrow. Most remedies were prepared from a single species, however some applications were always prepared with a mixture of plants, e.g. for abortion, and the complex of luxations and swellings. The part of the plant most frequently used was the aerial part (29.3%) and the leaves (20.7%). The remedies were mainly prepared as a decoction (47.5%) and an infusion (28.6%). Most of species were native from Bolivia, but an important 36.4% of them were introduced from different origins. There exists a high informant consensus for species and their medicinal indications. The present urban phytotherapy represents a medicinal alternative to treat main health problems and remains closer to the cultural and social context of this society.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Abida Bano

Mushtaq Ahmad

Taibi Ben Hadda

Abdul Saboor

Shazia Sultana

Muhammad Zafar

Muhammad Pukhtoon Zada Khan

Muhammad Arshad

Muhammad Aqeel Ashraf

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): J Ethnobiol Ethnomed

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): J Ethnobiol Ethnomed

Title: Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine

Publisher: BioMed Central

ISSN (Electronic): 1746-4269

Publication date Collection: 2014

Publication date (Electronic): 9 May 2014

Volume: 10

Page: 43

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan

[2 ]School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal 14300, Malaysia

[3 ]Laboratoire de Chimie des Matériaux, Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohammed Premier, Oujda 60000, Morocco

[4 ]Department of Agricultural Economics, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

[5 ]Department of Botany, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

[6 ]Department of Geology, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Article

Publisher ID: 1746-4269-10-43

DOI: 10.1186/1746-4269-10-43

PMC ID: 4039317

PubMed ID: 24885937

SO-VID: 3d799787-d6ee-4453-9059-2c5369299fd1

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Quantitative ethnomedicinal study of plants used in the skardu valley at high altitude of Karakoram-Himalayan range, Pakistan

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Abstract

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Indigenous Knowledge

Most cited references 14

Traditional knowledge on medicinal and food plants used in Val San Giacomo (Sondrio, Italy)--an alpine ethnobotanical study.

An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by the Zay people in Ethiopia.

An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants commercialized in the markets of La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia.

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