Ethnobotanical Appraisal of Medicinal Plants from Bajaur; A Remote Area of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan

Medicinal plants are rich and valuable sources for the treatment of various problems related to healthcare. The present research was focused to enlist the native erudition of unexplored and remote areas of Bajaur. The survey was carried out to investigate those plants which have high ethnomedicinal potential in the study area. The data was collected by using social surveys and field research. A total of 61 medicinal plants which belongs to 53 genera and 42 families were documented. Out of these 61 plants, 35 were herbs, 14 shrubs, and 12 trees. Plant leaves (27%) were the highly used part for the treatment of various ailments followed by fruits (22%), aerial parts (13%), seeds (13%), whole parts (10%), resins (7%), barks (3%), flowers (3%), and roots (2%). The plant families such as Lamiaceae, Solanaceae, Rhamnaceae, and Cucurbitaceae are the most used families. The local inhabitants of Bajaur depend upon the local flora for the treatment of different diseases in a considerably higher proportion. Harvesting of roots and whole plants is the major anthropogenic threats to the conservation of majority of the documented medicinal plant species.