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Pak. J. Bot., 45((S1): 197-205, 2013.

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ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDIES OF THE EASTERN PLAINS OF TAKHT-E-SULAIMAN HILLS

KHALID AHMAD¹, MUSHTAQ AHMAD*¹ AND CAROLINE WECKERLE²

Abstract: Studies have been carried out in the proposed area to asses, record and report the Ethno-botanical potential of the area. Forty five individuals were selected through snow ball sampling and interviewed in details, equally distributed in the three main sites of the area. A total of 66 ethnobotanically important species were found, belonging to 37 families, in which one was Pterodophyte family and the remaining were of angiosperm, distributed in 2 monocots and 34 dicot families. Regarding habit, 39 herbs, 11 shrubs and 16 were trees. 63.6% species were having medicinal uses including 02 as veterinary medicinal, 59.09% as fodder, 43.93% as fuel, 24.24% species as technological including timber and agricultural tools and 25.57%  as edible including wild vegetables/pot herbs/salad and wild fruits and 33.33% were included in the category “Others” including miscellaneous uses. Regarding use reports the overall average use value was 2.5 for each species, 4.5 for tree species, 2.54 for shrubs and 1.69 for herbs. Mode of administration of medicinal plants was as, 21 plants were applied externally, 10 with internal usage and 11 with both internal and external application. 9 different parts of plants were reported to be used for medicinal purposes. There is a need to educate the locals for sustainable harvesting of plant resources and also to carry out detailed qualitative and quantitative studies in all the ethnic groups surrounding Thakht-e-Sulaiman hills complex, especially gathering the valuable knowledge of the inhabitants residing on hill sites of this area.

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

²Institute of Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Switzerland

^*Corresponding author e-mail: mushtaqflora@hotmail.com