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Pak. J. Bot., 47(1): 113-120, 2015.

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BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF COMMONLY USED MEDICINAL PLANTS FROM GHAZI BROTHA, ATTOCK DISTRICT

ZABTA K. SHINWARI^1*, SUMERA MALIK¹, ASAD MUSTAFA KARIM², RIZWAN FAISAL³ AND MUHAMMAD QAISER⁴

Abstract: Medicinal plants are important natural source of possibly secure drugs. They have been playing a significant role in mitigating human miseries by contributing herbal medicines in the primary health care systems of remote areas. About 70% population of rural and remote areas depends on folklore and traditional medicines to cure various ailments. The traditional medicines have gained much popularity due to the high cost and adverse effects of allopathic medicines which encouraged manufacturers of Greco-Arab and Ayurvedic systems of medicines to fuse their orthodox medicines with local traditional medicines in order to spread health coverage at a reasonable rate.

Keeping in view the importance of ethnobotanical survey the current survey was carried out in Attock District, Punjab which comes under the Rawalpindi Division. The region has rural values of old civilizations and customs. The inhabitants of this area have their own trends for a village site, house, family, childbirth, death ceremonies, cultural functions, festivals and socio-religious belief. The ladies are more energetic and laborious as compared to gents. There is a lack of communication with current civilization which has kept them closer to nature from where they fulfill many of their daily needs. The inhabitants of the area are very close to natural flora, both in their habitat and livelihood. People of the area have speculative observations of nature and by communicating with other people of their culture, they discover the inherent knowledge of the local plants. As a result they gain indigenous knowledge, generation after generation. Plants and their derivatives available from the local area are utilized for many purposes such as food, fodder, medicine, veterinary medicines, timbers, households, oilseeds and also for socio-religious and various other purposes. In this way important medicinal plants are collected throughout the year for advertising, personal and entire community use.

Due to random and excessive use of antimicrobial drugs in the treatment of contagious diseases, pathogenic bacteria have developed great resistance against prevailing antibiotics. Multi-drug resistant strains of bacteria generally spread in hospitals and are being isolated from population acquired infections. All this has resulted in severe consequences such as failure of treatment. Hence, it was imperative to explore natural products as an alternative to synthetic antimicrobial agents.

Key words: Biological activities, Medicinal plants, Ghazi Brotha, Pakistan.

¹ Department of Biotechnology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

²National Leading Research Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Myongji University,  Yongin, Gyeonggido, Republic of Korea

³Rehman Medical Institute, Hayatabad-Peshawar; ⁴University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan

^*Corresponding author e-mail: shinwari2008@gmail.com