Cultural and Ethnopharmacological Uses of Wild Plants in the Cholistan Desert, Pakistan
Muhammad Usman, Fozia Bashir, Noman Rasheed, Umar Shahzad and Muhammad Altaf
SUMMARY
Wild plants have been utilized by humans since the origin of humanity; they are utilized for food, fodder, medicine, superstition, trade, entertainment, religion, magic, timber, firewood, repelling insects, lizards, and rodents; as barriers, for fragrance, and as preservatives. Landscape, climate, and human attitudes change due to the rapid increase in the human population. People are becoming more dependent on modern materials and medications. Societies lose their cultural and ethnopharmacological data. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the cultural and ethnopharmacological information in the Cholistan Desert. Data were collected from the native respondents (n=100) of Cholistan. The data were analyzed with the help of different indices like the Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC), relative importance, and Similarity Index. Parts of plants (i.e., pod, bark, leaf, fruit, twig, root, stem, latex, and whole plant) from 23 species are used orally and topically to treat the following diseases: anemia, cancer, cough, diabetes, fatigue, fever, gastrointestinal issues, gut health, indigestion, insect bites, jaundice, joint pain, liver issues, livestock health, malnutrition, milk production, muscle pain, oral health, skin infections, swelling, tooth pain, urinary disorders, weakness, and wound healing. The relative frequency of citation (RFC) ranged from 0.02 to 0.86. Giant milkweed has the highest RFC (0.86), while the lowest was noted for saltwort and seepweed (RFC = 0.02).
Keywords: Ethnobiology, Ethnomedicine, Wild plants, Human health, Food, Fodder