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ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDIES OF MAHAL KOHISTAN (KHIRTHAR NATIONAL PARK)

ABDUL QADIR PANHWAR^* AND HIDAYTULLAH ABRO^**

Abstract: Ethnobotanical survey conducted in Mahal Kohistan (Khirthar National Park) revealed that the local people use 50 species of plants in traditional health care system and miscellaneous uses. Plants have healing powers to combat various ailments viz., anaemia, arthritis, asthma, biliousness, boils, bronchitis, cholera, colic, constipation, diabetes, diarrhoea, dipsia, dropsy, dysentery, dyspepsia, enlargement of spleen, epilepsy, epistaxis, erysipelas, fevers, gripping, hemicrania, hepatitis, hiecoughs, hydrophobia, impotence, jaundice, laryngitis, leprosy, leucoderma, leucoma, mania, mastitis, measles, nyctalopia, otalgia, ophthalmia, piles, rashes, ringworm, scabies, scurvy, stomatitis, syphilis, tumours, tuberculosis, toothache, ulcers and vertigo. Miscellaneous uses include (i) agricultural implements (ploughs, yokes), shafts, beams, pins (ii) turnery, household articles, dippers, stirrers, spoons, chiks (door-screens), kilks (pens), huts (pillars), doors, cots, frames, mats, sandals, fans, baskets, brooms, chhaj (winnowing fans), ropes, cordage, making shawls and handkerchiefs, stuffing pillows and quilts (iii) building items (pillars, beams, rafters), (iv) foods, vegetables, pickles, culinary (v) fodder for cattle, goats, sheep, camels,  horses, asses  and onagers  (vi) fencing, hedging (vii) tanning leather, dyeing (viii) cementing broken pottery (shreds), (ix) fuel, tinders (x) Magico-religious, cultural (tattooing), and rosaries.
 

^*Agriculture Research Institute Tandojam-70060, Sindh, Pakistan

^**Institute of Botany University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan.