Research Article
Ethnobotanical Study of Some Medicinal Plants of Rawal Town
Department of Botany, University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Qurrat Ul Ain Khan
Department of Botany, University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Indigenous knowledge is as old as human civilization but the term ethnobotany was first used by an American botanist Berger in (1895) to study of plants used by primitive and aboriginal people. Later redefined ethnobotany by using modern ecological term. It is the study of direct interaction between human and plant population through its culture each human population classified plants. They develop attitudes and beliefs about plants. They also learn the use of plants. Plants impose same limitation on them. These mixture interaction is called ethnobotany. It promotes traditional culture, local remedies, forest management practices and tradition knowledge transformation to next generation. It improves self-confidence of minorities and enhances their social and cultural values. Goodman and Ghafoor (1992) collected information about one hundred and fourteen plant species used by the rural people and villagers of Baluchistan for miscellaneous purposes, out of which fifty six prescribed by herbalists for medicines. Review of Ethnobotanical study of different areas have been presented by Jain and Sahu (1993), Imtiaz-ul-Haq and Hussain (1995), Badshah et al. (1998), Khan (1999), Harmarneh (1998). Atique and Iqbal (1992) studied traditional drug specie Pongamia pinnata linn for dermal diseases. Motley (1994) presented a comprehensive survey of past, present and future use of sweet flag Acorus calamus. According to him the plant has rich ethnobotanical history dating back possibly to the time of Musa (peace be upon him). It has been valued for its rhizome and fragrant oil, has been used in alcoholic beverages and as a fragrant essence in perfume and oil. Current researches investigate that it has antibacterial and antifungal properties. So it is very important to conserve natural resources and save the tradition knowledge. Ethnobotany in Pakistan is important because 80% of population lives in villages and rural areas and mostly depend upon Unani System of medicines (Ikram and Hussain, 1978). Therefore it is necessary for phytochemist and pharmacologist to determine their true therapeutic properties. A few workers have taken pain to elucidate but still far from comprehensive account. However, encroaching urbanization and accompanying changes in their life styles are responsible for the decrease of the practice in local use of plants for medicines. It has been estimated that more than 65% of local people in some remote areas depend upon medicinal plants since it is their traditional knowledge and being poor these people do not have access to clinics or hospitals. Rest of 35 percent has changed their life style and have access to modern health facilities. Rawal Town in Islamabad is rich in medicinal plants and still it stand almost neglected. The area demand extensive ethnobotanical survey. It is situated at a distance of 4 km from Faizabad on the Murree road. Annual temperature average range is 14.4 to 28.9°C. Ethnobotanical survey of the area was necessary because due to over grazing and browsing lot of medicinal plants were destroyed. So it was important to document max portion of knowledge with sense of urgency. Ethnobotanical study was planned by keeping in view the following objectives. To collect the information about local name of medicinal plant species. To collect the information about indigenous use of medicinal plant species. To establish database regarding medicinal plants of Rawal Town.
Many plants species were randomly collected from different sites of Rawal Town during month of Nov-Dec, 1999. Out of them 25 plants were medicinally important species. They were dried, preserved and identified with the help of Flora of Pakistan (Nasir and Ali, 1971-1995; Nasir and Rafiq, 1995). Confirmations of plants were done by National Herbarium, NARC, Islamabad. The ethnobotanical information regarding the local names and traditional uses of plants were known from the local inhabitants of Rawal Town. Generally aged person and local Hakims were consulted.
The information about their local names and traditional uses against many disorders like cough, dysentery, diarrhoea, wound, piles, ulcer, malaria, cholera, fever, rectal fissure, rheumatism, asthma, sore throat, jaundice, leprosy, small pox, vomiting and skin diseases were collected. There were twenty-five species belonged to twenty families. Out of them seventeen were dicot and only three were monocot. Ethnobotanical information showed that many species were locally used for various purposes such as fuel wood and fodder. Out of these twenty five species were medicinally used (Table 1). Rawal Town is under heavy biotic pressure due to over grazing and browsing.
Table 1: | Classification and Traditional Uses of Some Plants of Rawal Town |
Many species are constantly decreasing in this area. Being rural area no effective measures are taken by government. However, it should be the moral and ethic duty of local people to save the plant resources. Most of the medicinally plants are uprooted for burning purposes and also grazed by the livestock. It therefore seems appropriate to manage the grazing and browsing system. As such the area is heavily degraded so government should also take proper measures to increase the cultivation of important plant species on different areas. Private and government agencies dealing with trade promotion should enhance market value of important plant species by decreasing expensive transportation cost. Biological societies and research centers should work for the promotion of traditional knowledge.