Shah et al.: Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants of Namal Valley, Salt Range, Pakistan - 4725 - ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDY OF MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NAMAL VALLEY, SALT RANGE, PAKISTAN SHAH, A.1* – POUDEL, R. C.2 – ISHTIAQ, M.3 – SARVAT, R.1 – SHAHZAD, H.1 – ABBAS, A.1 – SHOAIB, S.1 – NUZHAT, R.1 – NOOR, U. D.1 – MAHMOODA, H.1 – SUMMAYA, A.1 – IFRA, A.1 – IHSAN, U.1 1Department of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha-40100, Pakistan 2Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Pātan-44700, Nepal 3Department of Botany, (Bhimber Campus), Mirpur University of Science & Technology Mirpur-10250 (AJK), Pakistan Corresponding author٭ e-mail:
[email protected] ; phone: +92-48-923-0811-15 ext. 609 (Received 5th Jan 2019; accepted 26th Feb 2019) Abstract. This paper presents the first quantitative ethnobotanical knowledge and practices of using native plants for different ailments from Namal Valley of Pakistan. Data was gathered by interviewing 350 informants through semi-structured questionnaires. A total of 217 taxa belonging to 166 genera and 70 families were documented. Fabaceae and Asteraceae families were found to be the most cited families (with 19 and 18 species receptively). Herbs represent the most cited life form (71%) and flower was the most widely used part (34.8%) with decoction as main mode of the utilization (41.5%). On the basis of use values, the most commonly used ethnobotanical taxa in the Valley were reported to be Euphorbia heterophylla (0.7) and Merremia dissecta (0.6). The highest RFC value was noted for Aloe vera (0.14) while highest ICF value was estimated for dental problems category (0.7).