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FOLKLORE USES OF AMARANTHACEAE FAMILY FROM NARA DESERT, PAKISTAN

RAHMATULLAH QURESHI AND G.R. BHATTI¹

Abstract: The present paper is a result of floristic and ethnobotanical project on the Nara Desert, Sindh which was carried out during 1998-2001. Six plant species distributed across four genera of Amaranthaceae family are extensively used ethnobotanically by the people of Nara Desert. They utilize various parts of these plants to accomplish their primary needs, like food, medicine, forage and fuel. Cross-checking of data with literature revealed that these species possessed some new uses not reported earlier in Indo-Pak medicinal literature. Besides, this enumeration also highlights the ethnoveterinary and other folklore uses for the first time from this remote area.

Department of Botany, Pir Mehr Ali Arid Agriculture University, Murree Road Rawalpindi, Pakistan

¹Department of Botany, Shah Abdul Latif  University, Khairpur, Pakistan