Ethnobotanical studies on plants of district Hunza-Nagar (Gilgit-Baltistan), Pakistan

Ethnobotanical studies were conducted in the Hunza-Nagar district of Gilgit-Baltistan (Northern Pakistan) about the uses of plants by the local people. Information was gathered by interviewing people in different villages. People used different plant species for various purposes; however the most common uses were for medicinal purposes. The present work documents ethnobotanical information for 106 plant species including both wild and cultivated ones, belonging to 92 genera and 46 families. Habit-wise, 27 were trees, 13 shrubs, and 63 were herbs. The common names are provided for the first time in the locally spoken language "Burushiski". A common name is the key to the treasure of ethnobotanical information; as this is the name by which the local people recognize the plant species concerned. Ethnobotanical knowledge was noticed to be fading away with the modernization of society. There is an urgent need to document all the information which is available at present.