Indigenous Knowledge of Some Medicinal Plants of Himalaya Region, Dawarian Village, Neelum Valley, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan

Investigation and documentation of the status of medicinal plants and associated knowledge was conducted in village Dawarian, Neelum valley AJ&K. A total of 59 plant species were used for furteen (14) different categories of diseases. The medicinal plants were economically used in treating a certain ailments, such as skin diseases (10spp., 14.49%) followed by headache & fever, cough & flu (8spp., 11.59% each), stomach problems & asthma (7spp., 10.14% each), jaundice & dysentery (5spp., 7.25% each), bronchitis (4spp., 5.80%), diabetics, rheumatic pain, bone fracture & wound healing (3spp., 4.35%), ulcer (2spp., 5.10% each) and dandruff (1spp., 1.45% ). The highest value of Informant consensus factor (ICF) is 0.71 for diabetics and lowest value is for bronchitis 0.21% whereas, Berberis lycium and Ajuga bracteosa has the highest fidelity level (FL: 100%) being used to cure diabetic patients. Direct Matrix Ranking (DMR) results showed that Juglan regia stands first in being the most multipurpose medicinal plant, followed by Morus alba whereas, Aconitum heterophyllum was found most threatened plant in the study area. Timber mafia/export was the leading threat followed by construction, fuel, grazing and urbanization respectively. Medicinal flora such as, Berberis lyceum, Ajuga bracteosa, Aconitum heterophyllum, Bistorta amplexicaule, Saussurea lapa and Jurinea dolomiaea are on the edge of extinction due to over exploitation.


Introduction
Indigenous knowledge has been significant in sourcing of medical remedies and development of commercial products. Recently, focus in ethnobotanical research has intensified on medicinal, cultural and commercial/livelihoods ethnobotany (Hossan et al., 2010). Ethnobotany is a broad term used to the study the direct interrelations between man and plants (Balick and Cox, 1996). The reliance of human beings on plants for their livelihoods is mandatory and it is primarily started by domestication and dates back to 10,000 years (Martin, 1995). Ethnobotanical study documents the facts on cultural interaction of people with plants. It also tries to find out how local people have traditionally used plants for various purposes and how they integrated plants into their cultural tradition and religion (Balick and Cox, 1996).
The focus of ethnobotany is on how plants have been or are used, managed and perceived in human societies and includes plants used for food, medicine, rituals, social life and others. The relationship between plants and human cultures is not limited to the use of plants for food, clothing and shelter but also includes their use for religious ceremonies, ornamentation and health care (Khan et al., 2008). The indigenous knowledge of plants has been communicated from generation after generation through oral message and individual experience (Shinwari, 2010).
In developing countries, use of indigenous plants by local people for their day ailments is common practice because western based health care system is inefficient due to poor staffing or because western drugs are expensive (Mahmood et al., 2011). Ethnomedicine is the system to maintain health and treat diseases based on folk beliefs and traditional knowledge, skills, methods and practices. This knowledge is disappearing because of rapid scientific, ecological and socio-economic changes. Therefore, ethnomedicinal knowledge must be acknowledged and conserved in a systematic way (Mohammed et al., 2006).
In Pakistan 60% of population especially in the villages are taking health cares by traditional practitioners who recommend herbal prescriptions (Haq, 1983). It is reported that 80% of the African population is depended on the traditional medicines (WHO, 2002). In Pakistan almost 80% of endemic plants are restricted to the northern and western mountains (Ali & Qaiser, 1986 (Ishtiaq et al., 2012;Mahmood et al., 2011;Qureshi et al., 2007;Ishtiaq et al., 2006;Dar, 2003). The present study is focused on the important plant resources and their indigenous uses from the Dawarian, Neelum valley, AJ&K, Pakistan.

The Study Area
The Neelum Valley is situated north-east of Muzaffarabad at an altitude of 900-6325 meters above sea level (a.s.l). It lies between 73°-75° E longitude and 32°-35° N latitude (Mahmood et al., 2011;Ahmad et al., 2012b). It is the largest district of Azad Kashmir covering an area of 3737 km 2 ( Fig  1). Dawarian village is situated at 110km north of the capital Muzaffarabad and is about 5450 ft above sea level (a.s.l). This mountain based area is excellent for adventure tourism and unique customs and way of living. The climate is temperate with very cold winters (average 0-4 ºC) and moderate summers (average temperature 20-30 ºC). Average rainfall is 165 cm annually. The area has various types of landforms and small plateaus. Soil is loamy and sandy loam, capable of retaining moisture and good growth of forests. Majority of the area is covered with thick vegetation and forest trees (Dar, 2003).

Data Collection
Many field trips were arranged and the area was thoroughly surveyed for the documentation of folk knowledge. Standard methods such as open-ended and close-ended interview were used for collection of plant materials. One hundred informants were randomly selected interview. The plant specimens collected, pressed, dried, preserved and were arranged alphabetically by family name, vernacular name and ethnomedicinal uses. The collected specimens were identified with the help of floristic literature (Nasir & Ali, 1970-1989Ali & Nasir, 1990-1991Ali & Qaiser, 2001-2008Qureshi, 2004).

Data Analysis
Data was tested through statistical methods to obtain results from the observations and data collected from the study area. Information consensus factor (ICF) was calculated for each category to identify the agreement of the informants on the reported cure. ICF was calculated by equation [ICF = nur-nt/nur-1] where Nur= number of use citation in each category and Nt= number of species used. The fidelity level (FL), the percentage of informants claiming the use of a certain plant for the same major purpose, was calculated by, [Np/N*100]. Where Np = number of informants that claim a use of a plant species for a particular use and N = number of informants that use the plants. Such methods are helpful in the selection of plants for further studies (Alexiades, 1996). Direct matrix ranking was conducted following Cotton (1996)

Results and Discussion
Many studies have been conducted on the indigenous uses of medicinal plants in Pakistan  Asteraceae was most dominating family in the study area (8 spp., 13.56%) followed by Rosaceace (4 spp., 6.78%; Table  1). Leaves were highly utilized part (24spp., 25.26%) followed by whole plant (18spp., 19.15%), fruits and roots (13spp., 13.68% each), bark (8spp., 8.42%), seeds, flower and stem (5spp., 5.26% each), aerial parts, wood and frond (2spp., 2.11%) and tuber (1spp., 1.05%) (Fig 1). A total of 14 different categories of diseases have been studied during the survey of selected area (Fig 2). The medicinal plants were efficiently used in treating a certain disease, such as skin diseases (10spp., 14.49%) followed by headache & fever, cough & flu (8spp., 11.59% each), stomach problems & asthma (7spp., 10.14% each), jaundice & dysentery (5spp., 7.25% each), bronchitis (4spp., 5.80%), diabetics, rheumatic pain, bone fracture & wound healing (3spp., 4.35%), ulcer (2spp., 5.10% each) and dandruff (1spp., 1.45% ). Bokhari (1994)   The juice of the plant and is applied on joint pain. The same is applied to prevent skin from sun burning. 8 The paste of roots is externally applied on skin allergies and pimples. Decoction of roots is used to cure stomach pain and typhoid fever. The bark is soaked in water and few drop poured in ear to treat earache. The same is used to wash chronic wounds. The powder of bark is given in jaundice. The juice of unripe fruits given to lower the blood pressure. The fruit is used as a remedy for hiccough.

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Ricinus comunis L. Arind Euphorbiaceae Sd, L Castor oil is given in constipation before and after child birth to mother. The same is given to infants to remove constipation. Paste of leaves is slightly warmed over fire and applied on rheumatic pain and injuries.

Moth Fabaceae Sd
Powder of seed is used in fever and is good source of food. The dried seeds are cooked with rice and given to fever patients.

Methi Fabaceae Wp
Seeds are chewed and swallowed with salad water for indigestion. The powder of the plant is given in diabetes.      Informant consensus factor (ICF) was used to support the data and to see the degree of agreement on each plant reported by informants. The highest value of ICF is 0.71 for diabetics who depict prevalence of diseases in the area and lowest value is for bronchitis 0.21% (Table 2). In this study, it was demonstrated that Berberis lyceum and Ajuga bracteosa has the highest fidelity level (FL: 100%) being used to cure diabetic patients while Viola canescens has the lowest FL, 14% (Table 3). Direct Matrix Ranking (DMR) was performed to assess the multipurpose uses and their impacts on the plant species. The result of the direct matrix ranking showed that Juglan regia stood first in being the most multipurpose medicinal plant, followed by Morus alba, whereas Ricinus comunis was the least ( Table 4).The ranking of threatened economic plants was conducted using 10 informants. The results (Table 5) indicated that Aconitum heterophyllum is the most threatened, and Bistorta amplexicaulis the least threatened. Timber mafia/export was the leading threat followed by construction, fuel, grazing and urbanization respectively (Table 6). These facts illustrate that we should not be ignorant of the scenario and, a planned and comprehensibly biodiversity conservation and preservation program with collaboration of national of international nature conservation agencies should be launched immediately.
Collection of fuel wood species kept throughout the year during harsh winter resulting continuous destruction of natural forest and vegetation. Forest resources such as, Cedrus deodara and Pinus wallichiana are disappearing at an alarming rate. Forest department should reintroduce this tree. A number of other medicinal plants like Berberis lyceum, Ajuga bracteosa, Aconitum heterophyllum, Taraxacum offincinale, Bistorta amplexicaule, Saussurea lapa and Jurinea dolomiaea are on the edge of extinction due to over exploitation (Ahmad et al., 2012b). The natural vegetation of the area was badly affected due to high intensity of Earth-quake (7.6 magnitudes) in Oct, 2005 and recent flood August (2010). The studies suggested that indigenous knowledge should be engaged for the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable ecosystem restoration (Ishtiaq et al., 2012). There should be close kinship between conservation scientists with indigenous peoples that attract and encourage their active participation in different activities of biodiversity conservation.

Conclusion and Recommendations
Dawarian village in Neelum Valley is floristically rich areas need attentions for plants conservation of existing vegetation and reforestation. Plants which are being eradicated, become rare, endangered, and finally diminish from the local population. The people of the area should have an easy access to doctors, so that dependence on the traditional medicinal plants can be minimized. Necessary steps should be taken not only to store the original vegetation but also to improve it. Deforestation is very common, because people have no alternative source of fuel. Therefore, if natural gas should be supplied to the area, it will protect the vegetation to large extent.