Ethnopharmacological approaches of the native hill people of Murree and Kotli Sattian, District Rawalpindi, Province of Punjab, Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Mountains greatly affect the climate of an area because of differences in altitude, latitude, topography and continental position which provide special ecogeographic habitats to diverse plant species having different systematic and pharmacological attributes. The present investigation aimed to explore the ethnomedicinal formulations used by the native hill people living on the Murree and Kotli Sattian situated 50 Km away from the capital Islamabad. An ethnobotanical survey led to the collection of 21 plant families and 34 species distributed among 30 genera. Fabaceae (12%), Plantaginaceae (12%), Rosaceae (9%) and Apocynaceae (9%) were the most common families, accounting for 42% of the reported medicinal plant species of the area. During this investigation, 63% of the collected plant species were used only in ethnopharmacological formulations. The use of extracts (57%) and oral (60%) administration of the drugs prepared from different parts of the plants, especially leaves (23%), were the most common. 526 URs (use reports) were collected and diseases were assorted into 25 major categories. In general, 21 URs were collected against each disease category and 15 URs against each reported plant species. Digestive disorders, respiratory ailments, skin issues along with joint and muscular pains were found prevailing among the hill people, which shows a direct relationship with the climate of the area. The results of this study show that the hills of the Murree and Kotli Sattian are endowed with a high biodiversity and occupants of the hills use a large array of plants to treat their diseases.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnobotany
• hill people
• indigenous people
• medicinal plants
• mountain people
• traditional knowledge

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Mr. Erik B. Soto for his help with improving the language of the manuscript.

Author contributions

BJ devised the study, collected and identified plant specimens and interviewed inhabitants. He also analyzed data, wrote and revised the manuscript. AS decorated ICPC-2 codes and helped to characterize diseases. ZRM and WS reviewed the manuscript. All authors read and finalized the manuscript for submission.

Availability of data and materials

Not Applicable.

Consent for publication

Not Applicable.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not Applicable.

Additional information

Funding

Authors bore the expenses of the research.