title: Ethnomedicinal uses of plants for the treatment of snake and scorpion bite in Northern Pakistan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medicinal plants represent one of the most accessible resources available for snake and scorpion bite among the rural communities of Northern Pakistan. This first ethno-botanical study aimed to document the indigenous knowledge and practices of using plants for snake and scorpion bite disorders in Northern Pakistan.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ethno-medicinal data is documented from 187 informants using semi-structured interviews. The data is analyzed using quantitative ethno-botanical indices of frequency citation (FC) and relative Frequency of Citation (RFC). In addition to this, the ethno-medicinal findings of this survey were compared with 10 previous published studies in order to report novel uses of medicinal plants against snake and scorpion bite disorders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total 62 medicinal plants belonging to 40 families are reported against snake and scorpion bite in this study. Our results showed that Asteraceae is the most used family (10 species), dominant life form is herb (48.38%), leaves were the most used plants part (18 Use-reports) and the paste is most used method of administration (22 reports). The range of RFC was 0.08-0.27 about the use of documented species. Compared to previous published studies, 33.87% similarity index while 66.12% novelty index is reported. About 40 plant species are first time reported with medicinal uses against snake and scorpion bite from Northern Pakistan.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study presents useful traditional knowledge of rural communities for the control of snake and scorpion bite using medicinal plants. The study mainly focused on ethno-medicinal documentation to preserve the valuable traditional knowledge that can be used in future phytochemical and pharmacological studies on medicinal plants of the area.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Maryam Akram
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Butt
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan. Electronic address: mushtaqflora@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Mushtaq
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Anam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fatima
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Shazia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sultana
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zafar
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Ghulam
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yaseen
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Muhammad Aqeel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ashraf
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Zabta Khan
authors.initials: ZK
authors.lastname: Shinwari
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Sadaf
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kayani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan; D008517:Phytotherapy; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D065008:Scorpion Stings / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012909:Snake Bites / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D028321:Plant Preparations
keywords: Communities; Medicinal plants; Northern Pakistan; Snake and scorpion bite; Traditional knowledge