Plant Diversity and Ethno-botanical Assessment of Tehsil Takht Bhai, Mardan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

Ethno-botany is the scientific study of traditional knowledge, and customs of people concerning plants and their medical, religious and other uses. The present study was aimed to gather and document the traditional knowledge and practices of the local inhabitants related to medicinal uses of the plants in the area. To understand the ethno-botanical uses and importance of the plant, a questionnaire survey was conducted to collect quantitative, and qualitative information from randomly selected 138 local inhabitants of the Tehsil Takht Bhai, Mardan. The data were statistically analyzed by using SPSS software. The results reveals that medicinal plants are used for the treatment of various ailments and health issues, the plants were mostly used for diabetic (8.7%). The plants use was also recorded for backache (6.5%), followed by constipation and urinary tract infection (5.6), dry cough (4.3%), abdominal swelling and hemorrhoids (3.6%), and dysentery (3.5%). We also report on the people perception parts uses. According to report shows that the most commonly used part was fruits (24.6%), followed by bark (15.2%), whole plant (5.1%), roots (3.6%), stems (3.6%), flowers (1.4%), and seeds (1.4%). However, plant recipes were recorded from the local respondents, mostly reported recipe is powder form of plants (29.7%), followed by crushing (28.3%), directly use (15.2%), chewing (11.6%), boiling with water (7.2%), decoction (5.1%), boiling with tea (1.4%) etc. We conclude from the survey that the species population has been frequently used for various medicinal purposes, and the local inhabitants have more knowledge about the medicinal plant species. So, it is important the uncontrolled use of the plant as ethno-medicinal drug due to its great economic value. However, it is recommended that further investigation on local flora is necessary into their possible medicinal uses and proper documentation of the knowledge for young generation and researchers.