The Ethno Botanical Uses of Medicinal Plants of Allai Valley, Western Himalaya Pakistan

This paper communicates the ethno botanical uses of medicinal plants of Allai valley. Floristically the area is placed in Western Himalayan Province located on the western edge of Himalayas, dominated by Sino-Japanese type of vegetation. Aims of the study were to document the medicinal plant resources and their use patterns. A total of 172 taxa were reported as locally used for various medicinal purposes. Majority of the recipes are prepared in the form of decoction from freshly collected plant parts. Mostly a single species were used and mainly taken orally. They used medicinal plants for asthma, cough, tonic, abdominal pain, and expectorant, anthelmintic, carminative, on boils, snakebites, jaundice, diarrhea and dysentery etc. Among 172 medicinal plants 24 were used for curing livestock. Field observation showed that vegetation of the area was generally threatened due to urbanization, deforestation, over grazing, habitat fragmentation, unscientific extraction of natural vegetation, introduction of the exotic taxa and habitat loss. Measures for the conservation of plant resources especially medicinal plants of Allai valley are urgently needed.