DOI: 10.2478/hepo-2018-000 International journal edited by the Institute of Natural Fibres and Medicinal Plants Vol. 66 No. 1 2020 Received: 2020-02-20 DOI: 10.2478/hepo-2020-0004 DOI: 10.2478/hepo-2018-000 Accepted: 2020-03-15 Available online: 2020-03-31 EXPERIMENTAL PAPER Ethnobotanical knowledge and folk medicinal significance of the flora of district Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan SYED SAQIB ALI, KHALID HUSSAIN, KHALID NAWAZ, KHIZAR HAYAT BHATTI, ZOBIA BASHIR, ARIFA NAZEER, USMAN ARIF, SANA JAFAR, EJAZ HUSSAIN SIDDIQI University of Gujrat Gujrat Pakistan *corresponding author: e-mail: [email protected] Summary Introduction: Medicinal plants are the natural source of medicines used in treatment of many diseases among local communities of various countries. It is also the raw material for the pharmaceutical industry. Pakistan is a country with a variety of medicinal plants, comprehensively studied in some areas, while others still need more studies of their flora. Objectives: The study was performed to catalogue the flora of district Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan and to assess its ethnomedicinal importance. Methods: A field survey was conducted in the Gujrat district (including Sarai Alamgir, Gujrat and Kharian) in 2019–2020 to collect the flora. Nearly 200 people of various age groups were interviewed and the ques- tionnaire was filled, the gender and professions of the participants were also noted. Results: The plant species collected belonged to 32 different Angiosperm families i.e. Poaceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Moraceae, Amaranthaceae, Apiaceae, Myrtaceae, Rutaceae, Solanaceae, Malvaceae, Eu- phorbiaceae and Lamiaceae. The obtained material consisted of 30 herbs, 20 shrubs and 22 trees. The floral parts used most often were leaves (63%) followed by: flower (41%), fruit (28%), stem (16%), seed (16%), bark (14%), root (13%), whole plant (12%), underground part (3%) and latex (3%). According to the study, the highest RFC (Relative Frequency of Citation) values were 0.1 in Cassia fistula L. (0.25) and the smallest RFC values were observed in Stellaria media (L.) Vill. – 0.025. The highest UV (Use Values) were noted for Achyranthes aspera L. at 0.9. In disease category, the highest value (0.67) of ICF (Informant Consensus Fac- tor) was observed for stomach and skin infections, while the lowest ICF value was noted for diabetes and gonorrhoea (0.27). Conclusions: It was concluded that the Gujrat district is rich in useful plants that can be used in the prepara- tion of various medicines as well as be sold on the herbal market. Herba Pol 2020; 66(1): 37-51 38 SS. Ali, K. Hussain, K. Nawaz, KH. Bhatti, Z. Bashir, A. Nazeer, U. Arif, S. Jafar, EH. Siddiqi Keywords: District Gujrat, medicine, ethnomedicinal flora, survey, native people Słowa kluczowe: prowincja Gujrat, lek, rośliny lecznicze używane w medycynie ludowej, badanie ankietowe, rdzenni mieszkańcy INTRODUCTION This study was undertaken to explore the flora in district Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan and its medicinal Gujrat is a district of Pakistan, situated between the importance through folk knowledge. Jhelum and Chenab rivers. It is spread over an area of 3,192 km2 and consists of three tehsils (town- ships): Sarai Alamgir, Kharian and Gujrat. It has a MATERIALS AND METHODS moderate climate but the temperatures vary signifi- cantly between seasons, with very warm summers Field surveys were conducted in three tehsils of district and cold winters. During summer, temperatures rise Gujrat: Sarai Alamgir, Gujrat and Kharian in 2019 and up to 46oC, though only for a relatively short period 2020, to collect the flora. Map of the selected area is given due to the nearby hills of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. in figure 1. A number of field tours were conducted. -Ap During winter temperatures drop below 2oC [1]. proximately 200 people of different age groups, genders In Pakistan, there is a significant diversity of cli- and professions were interviewed and filled a question- mate, geographical areas and conservation areas [2]. naire for the documentation. Plants collected during the They contain a variety of large, speckled and various survey were dried and preserved in herbarium sheets. other kinds of plants. Almost 600 species of angio- Plants were identified with the help of “Flora of Pakistan”. sperm flora are recorded in Kashmir and Pakistan [3]. It has been concluded in the study of ethnomedicinal flora, that these plants were utilized by the initial in- Data analysis habitants of these areas [4]. In developing countries, almost 80% of people are utilizing traditional eth- The data was analysed for different parameters to nomedicinal flora as cures for various ailments [5]. find the ethnomedicinal importance of the flora. There are a number of plant species exhibiting phar- maceutical properties growing in the wild, making it easy for people to gather and utilize them [6]. By Use value (UV) utilization of infective microorganisms, the flora and fauna act against bacteria and fungi by use of chemi- Use Value (UV) was used to determine the relative cals extraction from important deep enact flora [7]. importance of a given species collected from the There are approximately 6000 species which are area. It was calculated by the following formula: gathered and used as cures for various diseases and 600 species are used as pharmaceutical sources [8]. UV = ∑ U/N, For particular health disorders, the families of flora where: such as Apiaceae, Fabaceae, Poaceae, Solanaceae and U – the number of citations per specific plant, Moraceae are consumed. They are involved in vari- N – the number of informants. ous cellular activities like radical scavenging, stimu- lant, alimentary canal, portliness diseases caused by microorganisms, inflammation, pain killers. They Informant consensus factor (ICF) are also a good source for collection of bio pesti- cides [9]. According to latest Pharmacopoeia, ap- Information of related homogeneity mixture of dis- proximately 25% of drugs are described due to its ease category obtained from informants was calcu- importance in medicinal plants. The chemicals that lated by this formula: are obtained from pharmaceutical flora are almost 25% in their number. Pharmaceutical flora is also ICF=(Nur-Nt)/(Nur-1), consumed by the native people of Gujrat to treat where: various ailments [10]. Nur – the number of citations from informants Ethnobotanical knowledge and folk medicinal signifi cance of the fl ora of district Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan 39 Figure 1 Map of study area (district Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan) for a particular plant-use category, FC – the number of informants using that species, Nt –the number of species or taxa utilized by all N – the total number of informants in the survey. the informants for that specifi c plant use category. Ethical approval: Th e conducted research is not re- ICF had ranged from 0 to 1, where ICF value of lated to either human or animal use. 1 indicated the highest level of informant consensus and 0 was the lowest value. RESULTS Fidelity level (FL) Distribution of families Th e fi delity level was calculated to search out the value of the species related to medicines: During the surveys, it was found that plant species collected belong to 32 angiosperm families. Ranking FL(%)=(Np/N)x100, of families was based on the number of species pres- where: ent in the area, i.e. Poaceae was placed at 1st rank due Np – the number of species that is present in a to the presence of the highest number of species in specifi c category. the area which was 9 species. Brassicaceae and Faba- For accurate sum consumption for particular ceae had 6 species each, and Asteraceae had 5 species species, N was used. in the study area. Th ere were 4 species for families Moraceae and Relative frequency of citation (RFC) Amaranthaceae. Apiaceae, Myrtaceae and Rutaceae had 3 species, Euphorbiaceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, RFC was calculated by the given formula: Solanaceae, Amaryllidaceae and Apocyanaceae had RCF=FC/N, 2 plant species, while all the other identifi ed families where: had only 1 plant species (fi g. 2). Vol. 66 No. 1 2020 40 SS. Ali, K. Hussain, K. Nawaz, KH. Bhatti, Z. Bashir, A. Nazeer, U. Arif, S. Jafar, EH. Siddiqi Plant identifi cation and ethnomedicinal uses digestion. Poultice made from the leaves of Lepidium bonariense was used for body pain and diabetes. For Th e data related to botanical name, family, local digestive disorders, leaves of the Mentha arvensis was name, UV, RFC, local uses, part used, prescription, recommended thrice a day. For general body weak- dosage, form of use and diseases is described in table ness, people used Phoenix dactylifera twice a day with 1. All these medicinal plants are traditionally used in milk. Leaves of the Stellaria media were directly ap- healing, according to the informants. Th e most com- plied on the surface of a wound for healing. Th e roots monly collected plant at various locations was Acacia of Withania somnifera were used to control symptoms modesta which was used in healing wounds, once a of stress. Fruit obtained from the Ziziphus jujuba was day. Powder made from the bark of Achras sapota f. used for the treatment of stomach and hepatitis dis- asperma was used during childbirth to control pain. orders (tab. 1). Wounds and pimples were cured with the bulb of Al- According to this study, it can be concluded that lium cepa, Aloe vera was helpful in removing dandruff use value (UV) was 0.23–0.9. Achyranthes aspera from hair with other ingredients like yoghurt, egg showed highest UV (0.6) whereas Spinacae oleraece and oil. Stem and leaves of Amaranthus viridis were had lowest UV (0.23) among all the species collected mixed with rice and used to ease menstrual pain. from the area (tab. 2). Relative frequency of citation Seeds of Bombax ceiba mixed with black musli and (RFC) and UV were used to search fl oral species that sufeed musli were recommended in diarrhoea, used can be utilized for the manufacturing of medicines.