title: Investigation of traditional medicinal floral knowledge of Sarban Hills, Abbottabad, KP, Pakistan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ethno medicinal traditional knowledge regarding the uses of indigenous medicinal plants for treating various human infectious diseases is totally in hold of the elder community members. The young generation is not much aware about such vital traditional medicinal practices.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To document, accumulate and widely disseminate the massive indigenous knowledge of century's practiced therapeutic uses of medicinal plants by the local people living in this area.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 134 local inhabitants (78 male and 56 female) were interviewed through questionnaire method. The data obtained were quantitatively analyzed through the use value, fidelity level index and relative frequency citation. Plants specimen were preserved and mounted on herbarium sheets and labeled, cataloged and deposited with voucher numbers in Hazara University Herbarium, Mansehra, Pakistan (HUP).
  
  
  RESULTS
  74 plant species belonging to 70 genera and 42 families were documented in the current study. These medicinal plant species are used commonly as an ethno medicine against 56 various diseases such as digestive disorder, cough, pain and skin diseases etc. Herbaceous plant species were the dominant among plants studied which were 57% of the total plants, followed by shrubs (23%) and trees (20%). Asteraceae was the leading family among collected medicinal plant species (10.81%). Maximum medicinal plant species were used for treatment of digestive disorders (9.09%) and cough (7.44%). Most widely part used is leaf (27.9%), followed by fruit (13.5%) and seed (13.5%) for the treatment of different ailments by the traditional healers. The medicinal plant species with greater use values were Berberis lycium (0.91) and Cannabis sativa (0.81). The medicinal plant species with maximum fidelity level were Ziziphus jujuba (100%) and Lonicera caprifolium (92.31%) whereas the medicinal with most relative frequency citation were B. lycium (0.313), Ziziphus nummularia (0.276). The comparative result reveals that 36% of medicinal plant species were reported for the first time from Abbottabad regarding their uses, whereas 26% of plant species were reported with different medicinal uses. Brugmansia suaveolens and Allium griffithianum were recorded for the first time from Pakistan as well as from other countries across the globe for currently reported medicinal uses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current study revealed the importance to document and launch list of all possible plants that are used in ethno medicinal practices in the study area. Future antimicrobial, antivirals, and pharmacological studies are required to ratify the efficacy and safety of the medicinal plants species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan. Electronic address: fbotany@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Farhana
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ijaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan. Electronic address: drzafar.hu@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Zafar
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Iqbal
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan. Electronic address: hajibotanist@outlook.com.
authors.forename: Inayat Ur
authors.initials: IU
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan. Electronic address: janalamkuh@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan. Electronic address: shuja60@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Shujaul Mulk
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan. Electronic address: gmujtabashah72@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ghulam Mujtaba
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan. Electronic address: khalidkhan.botanist@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Khalid
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan. Electronic address: aftabafzalkiani@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Aftab
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Afzal
mesh_terms: D020834:Ethnopharmacology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal
chemical_list: D028321:Plant Preparations
keywords: Abbottabad; Ethno medicine; Jaccard index; Pakistan; Used value