Traditional knowledge on plant resources of Ashezai and Salarzai Valleys , District Buner , Pakistan

An ethnobotanical study was done in the Ashezai and Salarzai Valleys, District Buner, Pakistan. A total of 163 plant species belonging to 73 families were reported with the help of standardized questionnaires for their traditional, medicinal and economic uses. Out of these, 62 families were dicots; 8 monocots and two pteridophytes. Gymnosperms were represented by one family. Asteraceae had 16 spp. which was followed by Papilionaceae and Poaceae (each with 9 spp.); Lamiaceae, Moraceae and Rosaceae (each with 6 spp.); Apiaceae, Polygonaceae and Solanaceae (each with 5 spp.); Amaranthaceae, Brassicaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Euphorbiaceae (each with 4 species); Oleaceae and Salicaceae had 3 species each. The remaining families had less number of species. They included 110 medicinal plants, 51 fodder and forage species, 37 fuel wood species, 33 vegetable/pot-herb species, 22 fruit yielding species, 20 thatching/roofing species, 13 timber species, 18 ornamental species, 8 poisonous plants, 10 fencing/ hedges plants, 4 agricultural tools making species, 5 honeybee species. Deforestation, biotic interference and overgrazing are the responsible culprits for dwindling phytodiversity in the investigated area. This study might be helpful to ethnobotanists, conservationists, ecologist, pharmacologists, taxonomists, wild life and water shed managers as baseline data.


INTRODUCTION
Ethnobotany can be defined as the "study of direct interrelations between humans and plants so the results from various investigations reveal important pharmacological activities of plants which may be used in developing novel therapeutic agents".Herbal medicines play an important role in health care programs worldwide, especially in developing countries, because there are no major side effects.The residents of the investigated area mostly depend on cattle rearing and their products and on forest resources.Overuse of forest resources has placed them under intense biotic pressure, which poses potential danger for wildlife habitat and medicinal plants.Mood (2008) reported some floristic and ethnobotanical aspects of 37 families, 128 genera and 160 species in Birjand area near the Afghanistan border in eastern part of Iran.Ozturk et al. (2008) published some data on the toxic and fatal behavior of some poisonous plants widely distributed in Turkey and Northern Cyprus.Studies on ethnobotany have been conducted in India (Mustafa et al., 2000;Siddiqui et al., 2000).Many of such studies have also been done on the ethnobotany of various parts of District Swat (Sher et al., 2003(Sher et al., , 2004;;Hussain et al., 2004Hussain et al., , 2005;;Ibrar et al., 2007).In Pakistan, some ethnobotanical studies have also been carried out (Dastagir, 2001;Durrani et al., 2003;Gilani et al., 2003;Sher, 2005;Hussain et al., 2007;Ahmad and Husain, 2008; Usain *Corresponding author.E-mail: zamanbotany@gmail.com. et al., 2008;Ilahi, 2008;Ali and Qaiser, 2009;Qureshi et al., 2009).Ethnobotanical studies (Sher et al., 2011) and biological spectrum (Sher and Khan, 2007) of the vegetation of Chagharzai Valley, District Buner has been worked out.
It is evident from the review of literature that no work on the ethnobotany of Ashezai and Salarzai Valleys District Buner has been done so for.The present study reports the traditional utilization of some plants of the area, which might be helpful for the future workers, ecologist, pharmacologists, taxonomists; wild life and water shed managers in their efforts to develop this area (Table 1).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
District Buner lies between latitude 34°-11 to 34°-34 and longitude 72°-13 to 72°-45.It is bounded by Swat and Shangla districts in the north, in the west by Malakand agency, in the south by Mardan and Swabi districts and in the east by Indus River.Vegetationally and climatically, the area can be classified as tropical, sub humid temperate with alpine glimpses at certain places.Elevation varies from 366 m in the south to 2911 m in the north.The geographical setting of the area provides habitat to rich diversity of plants especially medicinal and other economic species.A survey was conducted during June, 2009 to document the traditional uses of plants.Plant specimen were collected, dried and preserved properly.They were identified through available literature (Nasir andAli, 1971-1992;Ali andQaisar, 1992, 2009).The plants were classified according to their economic value (medicinal, fodder, vegetables, thatching, food, fuel wood) by interviewing and filling questionnaires from drug dealers, shopkeepers, timber dealers, fuel wood seller, local hakims and farmers but priority was given to local elderly people who were the real users and had a lot of information about the plants and their traditional uses.Literature survey and general observations provided more information.The plants were submitted to Botany Department, University of Peshawar, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The people of the area depend on agriculture, fuel wood selling, timber wood selling, livestock and other natural resources of the area for a living.The ethnobotanical information revealed that 163 plants were used for various purposes in the investigated area.The reported vegetation comprised 25 trees, 33 shrubs, 100 herbs, 4 climbers and one parasite (Figure 1).There were 110 plant species used as medicine.Some of the plants were used individually, while others in mixture.A plant species had single or multiple medicinal uses.The findings agree with those of Sher et al. (2011), Iqbal et al. (2011), Hussain et al. (2004, 2005), Ahmad and Husain (2008), Husain et al. (2008), Ilahi (2008), Ali and Qaiser (2009) and Qureshi et al. (2009) with respect to medicinal uses.Among such plants, Acacia modesta, Acorus calamus, Adiantum incisum, Ajuga bractiosa, Ammi visnaga, Berberis lycium, Calotropis procera, Coriandrum sativum, Cucimus prophetarum, Fumaria indica, Mentha longifolia, Mentha spicata, Morus alba, Morus indica, Oxalis corniculata, Paeonia emodi, Plantago lanceolata, Punica granatum, Verbascum thapsus and Zizyphus spp.were usually used against various ailments.Medicinal plants used in the local community were about 64% of the total reported species.Livestock rearing is an important traditional activity of the local people.Sher et al. (2011) reported that 33% of the total plant species are used as fodder in Chaghazai valley, District Buner.Aboriginals of the present investigated area showed milk, yogurt, butter and other traditional dairy products from livestock for their daily use.These products are taken with maize bread by all members of the family.Badshah and Hussain (2011) recorded that biotic pressure in the rangelands of district Tank is beyond the regeneration capacity of plant species because of free grazing.In the present investigated area, 51 (31%) plant species were used as fodder.The most commonly used plants were A. modesta, Avena sativa, Brassica compestris, Bromus japonicus, Cymbopogon distans, Cynodon dactylon, Dichanthium annulatum, Medicago minima, Melia azedarach, M. alba, M. indica, Rubus ulmifolius, Sorghum helepense, Trifolium repens and Zizyphus spp.Similar findings were also reported from other parts of Pakistan (Sher, 2005;Sher et al., 2003Sher et al., , 2004;;Hussain et al., 2004Hussain et al., , 2005;;Gilani et al., 2003;Ibrar et al., 2007).
Acacia, Ailanthus altissima, Dodonea viscosa, M. azedarach, Mallotus philippensis, Morus spp., Pinus roxburghii, Populus caspica and Olea ferruginea are the most common plant species used as fuel wood in the investigated area.About twenty-two percent of the total recorded plant species are used as fuel wood.There is a high pressure on fuel wood species.Fuel consumption per home is often greater because of severe winters.Khan (2000) and Awan (2000) observed that the fuel wood is collected before the commencement of winter.Most of the economically important plants are reducing due to cutting.All these species which have high fuel value, are severely damaged.Sher et al. (2011) reported that timber species like Melia and even Pinus roxburghii are used as fuel wood in Chagharzai valley.Our findings agree with them.Hussain et al. (2004Hussain et al. ( , 2005)), Sher et al. (2003Sher et al. ( , 2004) ) and Ibrar et al. (2007) also reported the same findings for fuel wood species and this support our findings.Thirty-three species were used as vegetables and potherbs comprising about 20% of the total reported plants.These vegetables are collected by women and young girls and cooked for their own need only.Allium cepa, A. sativum, Brassica compestris and Luffa cylindrica are cultivated while the remaining plant species are wild.They include Amaranthus viridis, Asparagus officinalis, Chenopodium album, Malva neglecta, Medicago polymorpha, Mentha longifolia, Portulaca olearaceae.Sher (2005) and Gilani et al. (2003) also reported on many wild and cultivated vegetable plants and this agree with our findings.
There were 22 plant species (13%), yielding edible fruits.Among them species like Berberis lycium, Celtis  (Hussain et al., 2004(Hussain et al., , 2005;;Ibrar et al., 2007; Figure 1.Percentage of plant species and their economic uses.Sher et al., 2011).The plant species used as timber included Ailanthus altissima, Juglans regia, Melia azedarach, Morus spp.Pinus roxburghii, Platanus orientalis and Salix spp.comprising thirteen (7.9%) species of the total recorded plants.Sher et al. (2011) recorded that forests easily fulfill the requirements of the local people, but the activities of the timber maphia had greatly damaged the vegetation in Chaghazai Valley.Most of the timber species, in terms of density and frequency are decreasing due to illicit cutting.Our results also support their findings.Some wild plant species like Adiantum venustum, Artimisia vulgaris, Asparagus officinalis, Mirabilis jalapa, Narcissus tazzeta, Jasminum humile and Rosa webbiana are used as ornamental plants having the potential for commercialization.These species comprised 11% of the total plants.Similar findings were reported in a number of studies in other parts of Pakistan (Sher et al., 2011;Ibrar et al., 2007;Hussain et al., 2004).Eight plant species (4.9%) including Nerium indicum, Calotropis procera, Buxus wallichiana, Datura innoxia, Cucimus prophetarum, Euphorbia helioscopia and Polygonum barbatum were considered poisonous to man, livestock or fish.These poisonous plants can be exploited as source of medicines.Livestock grazing is an important practice in the area therefore the people protects their crop fields by planting thorny, bushy or spiny plants around their crop fields.There were ten plants used for the purpose of fencing and hedging in the area.It comprised 6.1% of the total plants reported.Some important plants used for this purpose were: Berberis lycium, Gymnosporia royleana, Opuntia dilleni, Rosa webbiana, Rubus spp., Zanthoxylum aromatum and Zizyphus nummularia.The study also recorded that four species (2.4%) were used for making agricultural tools including ploughs, sticks, sickle handles, axe handles, pullies, knife handles and other agricultural appliances.Acacia nilotica, Celtis australis, Alnus nitida, and Olea ferruginea are important in this respect.Honeybees visit five species (3%). A. modesta, J. adhatoda, Sarcococa saligna and Zizyphus spp.are important.Honey obtained from A. modesta and Zizyphus is extensively used in the preparation of traditional medicines and sold at higher rates.
It is concluded that the area is under heavy biotic pressure in the form of deforestation and overgrazing, which has reduced regeneration of woody plants.Overgrazing, human population explosion, uprooting of medicinal plants by the local laypeople and other informal factors are responsible for habitat loss, soil erosion and proper functioning of ecosystems.There is dire need to conserve the biodiversity of the area in order to provide the resources and resource alternatives for the people's survival in future.