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Abstract

Pakistan, a developing country, has a large population with limited access to the modern facilities especially in rural areas. Local communities rely heavily on indigenous flora for medicinal, household and culinary purposes. Therefore, documenting this traditional knowledge is of great importance. In this context, an ethnobotanical survey was conducted in Kot Jamel, Bhimber, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) being an Asian context. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to local inhabitants to document ethnobotanical uses of plants. A total of 101 plant species were recorded belonging to 52 families, with Fabaceae representing the most dominant family in terms of species richness. Among the documented species, Coriandrum sativum L. was the most frequently cited plant by respondents, while Ficus religiosa L., showed the highest use value, particularly among wild species, Xanthium strumarium L. also exhibited considerable cultural importance. Respiratory and digestive disorders were among the most commonly treated ailments using traditional plant remedies, reflecting strong community consensus regarding their therapeutic applications. Comparative analysis indicated moderate similarity with previous published ethnobotanical studies indicating distinct cultural variations in plant utilization. This study highlights the deep-rooted dependence of local communities on natural vegetation for healthcare, culinary, household and small-scale industrial purposes. The majority of the population continues to rely on plant-based traditional practices rather than modern healthcare approaches, reflecting strong cultural trust in their accessibility and effectiveness. Furthermore, these findings suggested that traditional medicinal knowledge exhibits both significant regional commonalities and pronounced cultural divergence

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