Ethnobotanical Significance of Medicinal flora in Tangi Dara indigenous Communities, Lower Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan is rich in medicinal plant diversity and traditional knowledge of usage of plant-based drugs against different ailments among indigenous communities. Rural people living in Tangi Dara lower Dir rely on traditional system of herbal medicine due to their strong belief and minimal access to allopathic medicines. Ethnobotanical data were collected from herbalist and native community through semi-structured questionnaires, focus group deliberations and fieldwork during the period of April 2021 to November 2022. A total of 280 people was interviewed to gather traditional ethnobotanical knowledge from the research area in the local language. The results of present study listed 97 plant species classified into 79 genera and 50 families. The dominant families found were Asteraceae and Lamiaceae, followed by Moraceae. The most commonly used plant parts were leaves, followed by fruit. The use value and relative frequency citation showed that Zanthoxylum armatum and Berberis lycium had high values, at 0.87 and 0.68, respectively. All studied plant species were mostly herbs (58.2%). The remaining percentage was made up of trees (23.5%), shrubs (12.2%), and climbers (6.1%). This knowledge is on the verge of extinction because younger generation is not interested in the process of learning and preservation. Hence, the documentation of traditional ethnobotanical knowledge is crucial for the discovery of novel medications, and the sustainable conservation of local medicinal flora.