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MEDICINAL USES OF
PLANTS BY THE INHABITANTS OF KHUNJERAB NATIONAL PARK,
GILGIT, PAKISTAN
BABAR KHAN1, 2 , ABLIMIT ABDUKADIR1,
RAHMATULLAH QURESHI3 AND GHULAM MUSTAFA2
Abstract:
Like many other mountain communities, people living in the peripheries
of Khunjerab National Park (KNP) have been using plant resources for
food, medicine, shelter, fuel and other purposes since long. The present
study was carried out to record the most common medicinal and aromatic
plants (MAPs) and their traditional uses by the local inhabitants from
the study area. A total of 43 plant species belonging to 40 genera and
28 families were recorded from Dhee, Barkhun, Shimshal and Khunjerab
pastures during field visits conducted in 2006-2008, which are being
used by the people of the area for the preparation of herbal recipes. In
all, Asteraceae family contributed the highest number of species
(11.63%), followed by Fabaceae, Lamiaceae and Rosaceae (9.30% each),
Chenopodiaceae and Elaeagnaceae (4.65% each). Twenty nine diseases were
treated by the reported species. Maximum number of species were employed
for treating fever (9 spp.), followed by cough, in digestion (5 spp.
each), wounds, eye infection, abdominal pain, jaundice, blood pressure
and diarrhea (4 spp. each). The study area is a fragile ecosystem which
is rapidly degrading due to excessive grazing and over exploitation by
the inhabitants for their customary needs. In order to protect the
dwindling floral resources and their classical uses, concrete
conservation measures i.e., education and awareness, integration
of traditional knowledge with modern healthcare and ex situ
conservation of threatened species, supporting local livelihoods and
rural economy is inevitable.
1Xinjiang Institute of Ecology & Geography, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Urumqi 83001 China
2World Wide Fund for Nature, Pakistan, Gilgit, Northern Areas,
Pakistan.
3Department of Botany, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture
University, Murree Road, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
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