Volume 165, 13 May 2015, Pages 251–259
An ethno botanical perspective of traditional medicinal plants from the Khattak tribe of Chonthra Karak, Pakistan
Abstract
Ethno pharmacological relevance
The
present study was carried out with an aim to gather, evaluate and
analyze the ethno botanical information of medicinal uses of the plant
species possessed by the native Khattak tribe of the Chonthra, district
Karak Pakistan. The region with poor documentation of traditional
knowledge, preserving the local traditional knowledge, reporting new as
well as rarely reported medicinal properties of medicinal plants, to be
tested experimentally for validation.
Material and method
The
medicinal uses of existing plant species were documented by oral
communication with 103 people, all over above 60 years of age, born and
residing in Chonthra. Information was gathered by semi-structured
interviews with further analysis by indices like Relative frequency
citation RFC and Medicinal use value MUV.
Results
The
study resulted with medicinal information on 66 plants species
belonging to 34 families (using against 58 health related problems with
83 different preparations mainly administered orally and topical). The
dominant families include Brasicaceae and Limiaceae. Withania coagulans and Pegnum harmala
were the plant species quoted 100% by the informants with RFC values 1
each. The MUV were scattered between 1.24 and 0.03. The highest MUV were
W. coagulans 1.24, Pegnum harmala 1.18, Fagonia cretica 1.14. This study for the first time include Nepeta lagopsis to the ethnobotanical wealth.
Conclusions
This
study was an extension to the ethnobotanical research conducted in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Pakistan. The target area being small and less
number of plants with limited traditional knowledge can serve basis for
further work focusing on rarely or non- reported plant species of
pharmacological and phytochemical importance with active metabolite
capable of broadening the sources of new drugs.
Graphical abstract
Keywords
- Ethnobotany;
- Traditional use;
- Medicinal plants;
- Khattak tribe;
- Chonthra;
- Karak
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