Medicinal uses of plants by the inhabitants of Kunjerab National Park, Gilgit, Pakistan

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 health care and ex situ conservation of threatened species, supporting local livelihoods and rural economy is inevitable. (author)