Abstract

The traditional uses of medicinal plants in healthcare practices are providing clues to new areas of research and hence its importance is now well recognized. However, information on the uses of indigenous plants for medicine is not well documented from many rural areas of Pakistan including district Tank. The study aimed to look into the diversity of plant resources that are used by local people for curing various ailments. Questionnaire surveys of 375 respondents, participatory observations and field visits were planned to elicit information on the uses of various plants. It was found that 41 plant species were commonly used by the local people for curing various diseases. Thirteen of them were frequently told and three of them viz. Citrullus colocynthis, Withania coagulans andFagonia cretica were the ever best in the area. In most of the cases (31%) leaves were used. The interviewees mentioned various plant usages. Those most frequently reported had therapeutic value for treating fever, rheumatism, diarrhea, asthma and piles. The knowledge about the total number of medicinal plants available in that area and used by the interviewees was positively correlated with people's age, indicating that this ancient knowledge tends to disappear in the younger generation and existing only in the elderly persons of age group 60 - 80 of years.

Key words: Ethnobotany, medicinal plants, people preferences, conservation.