BOTANICAL DEMOGRAPHY AND TRADITIONAL USES OF PLANTS OF KAGHAN VALLEY

This research paper consists of an imperative ethnobotanical assessment related to utilization of wild plant resources by the native rural community of Kaghan valley and also reflects the pragmatic findings of the ethnobotanical survey. The elementary purpose of the study was to document indigenous knowledge of plants particularly medicinal, fodder, food, ethnoveterinary, fuel and construction etc. To document the ethnobotanical information the whole area was surveyed, semi- structured questionnaire was designed for taking interview and total 123 informants were selected. Plant specimens were collected, photographed, dried and properly identified. Total 104 plant species belonging to 99 genera and 51 families were found to be used for various purposes by the local community for achieving their basic needs. Different quantitative techniques like Frequency of citation (FC), Relative frequency of citation (RFC) and Use values (UV) were used for determining the most preferred plants, local importance and their use reports. Ethnobotanical data shows that most frequently used extensive category was met by fodder/ forage species (46 spp., 44.2%), followed by medicinal (45 spp., 43.2%), others (39 spp., 37.5%), food (24 spp., 23%), fuel (18 spp., 16.3%) and ethnovetinary (5 spp., 4.8%). Quantitative techniques like Frequency of citation (FC) are used for determining the most preferred plants and the Relative frequency of citation (RFC) shows the local importance of each species. High use value depicts that there are many use reports for a plant, indicating that the plant is important, and low use value (approaches to 0) indicates that there are few reports related to its use, however, use report does not distinguish whether a plant is used for single or multiple purposes. There is a need to educate the collectors regarding collection, storage, drying, pressing, preserving, packing and marketing. All this is done to increase the economic benefits from native flora. For quick production of medicinal plants, there cultivation should be encouraged by providing facility to the farmers and equipping them with standardize techniques. The study confirmed that most of the plants are used for fodder and medicinal purpose. Plants having more use reports will have high use values.