FOLK KNOWLEDGE OF MEDICINAL PLANTS FROM ROHRI HILLS, SINDH, PAKISTAN

An ethnobotanical survey has been carried out from the Rohri Hills and its surrounding areas during 1999-2004. Seventy plant species belonging to 60 genera and 34 families have been recorded. For each plant species, botanical name, vernacular name, part(s) used, popular medicinal use, forms of preparation and applications of the herbal remedies are provided. Of them, 17 are proposed having new usage not recorded in the Indo-Pak folk herbal medicinal literature. The family with the high number of folklore medicinal plants was Boraginaceae (6 species and 3 genera) followed by Amaranthaceae, Asteraceae, Capparidaceae (5 species each), Poaceae and Solanaceae (4 species each). About 40 ailments were treated with various parts of the reported plant species. For treating ailments, the most widely used plant part was whole plants (27%) followed by leaves (25%), fruits (14%) and roots (11%).