Keeping their own and integrating the other: medicinal plant use among Ormurs and Pathans in South Waziristan, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: In multicultural societies, traditional knowledge among minorities faces several challenges. Minority groups often face difficult situations living in specific peripheral geographies and striving to retain their biocultural heritage, including medicinal plant knowledge and practices. Folk medicinal plant knowledge is a dynamic eco-cultural complex influenced by various environmental, socio-cultural, and political factors. Examining medicinal plant knowledge among minorities has been an increasingly popular topic in cross-cultural ethnobiology. It also helps understand the dynamics of local/traditional ecological knowledge (LEK/TEK) change within a given community. The current study was designed to investigate the status of medicinal plant knowledge among two linguistic groups, i.e. Ormurs and Pathans, living in a remote valley of West Pakistan. METHODS: We recruited 70 male study participants from the studied groups for semi-structured interviews to record the medicinal plant use of their communities. Data were compared among the two studied communities using the stacked charts employing the presence or absence of data with Past 4.03 and Venn diagrams. Use reports (URs) were counted for each recorded taxon. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: A total of seventy-four medicinal plants were quoted as used as ethnomedicines by the researched communities. Most of the reported plants were used to treat digestive and liver problems. The cross-cultural comparison revealed a considerable homogeneity of medicinal plant knowledge (the two groups commonly used more than seventy plants); however, comparing uses recorded for the widely utilised medicinal plants showed numerous idiosyncratic uses among Ormurs but very few among Pathans. Ormurs reported a higher number of cultivated, wild, and imported plant uses than did Pathans. These results indicate that, compared to Pathans, the Ormur linguistic minority retain more folk medicinal plant knowledge, which may be explained by the fact that they have incorporated different folk remedies: their "own knowledge" plus that of Pathans, with whom they have lived together for centuries. Moreover, the local plant nomenclature among Ormurs was highly affected by the plant nomenclature of Pathans. CONCLUSION: The current study revealed that living together for a few centuries has not implied sharing plant knowledge (as the Pathans do not seem to have learnt from the Ormurs) or, in other words, that plant knowledge exchanges have been unidirectional. The findings show that the Pashto dominant culture may have possibly put pressure on the minority groups and affected local plant-centred cultural practices, as we see in the case of local plant nomenclature hybridisation among Omuri speakers. Hence, it is imperative to employ diverse educational strategies to revitalise the decline of medicinal plant knowledge in the studied communities, especially among Ormurs, who need more attention as they face more challenges than the other group. Locally based strategies should be devised to restore the fading connection with nature, which will be advantageous for revitalising plant knowledge.

Ethnobotanical Insights into Medicinal and Culinary Plant Use: The Dwindling Traditional Heritage of the Dard Ethnic Group in the Gurez Region of the Kashmir Valley, India.

This ethnobiological study addresses the complicated relationship between the Dard ethnic group and their natural environment in the Gurez region of the Kashmir Valley. The study documents their traditional knowledge of the use of plant species for medicinal and culinary purposes. A total of 87 plant species from 41 different families were cataloged, with the Asteraceae family (15 species) and the Lamiaceae family (12 species) being the most commonly used. These plants were found to be used to treat 20 different ailments, with menstrual cramps being the most common (12 species). The fidelity values for these plants ranged from 11.10 to 71.42, demonstrating their importance in traditional medicine. In addition, 17 plant species were found to be useful for gastronomic purposes, with Juglans regia being the most valuable (use value of 0.73). The study also evaluated the conservation status of these plants and found that seven of them are considered critically endangered, ten endangered, and four endangered according to the IUCN classification. This study offers insights into the Dard people's deep connection to their natural environment and has significant implications for policy formulation, cultural conservation, and sustainable use of endemic species, as well as potential applications in pharmaceutical research for therapeutic compounds.

A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Plant Resources among Five Ethnic Groups in the Western Himalayan Region of Jammu and Kashmir.

Plant resources have always been valuable in human life, and many plant species are used in medicine, food, and ritual, and resource utilization is closely related to cultural diversity. Our study was conducted from June 2019 to April 2021, during which we aimed to document the local knowledge of plant resources of five ethnic groups, i.e., the Gujjar, Bakarwal, Kashmiri, Pahari, and Dogra communities of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) region, Western Himalayas. Through semi-structured interviews (N = 342) and group discussions (N = 38), we collected data on the ethnobotanical uses of plant resources. The data was subjected to hierarchical cluster analysis and ordination techniques (Principal Component Analysis) via, R software of version 4.0.0. Traditional uses were classified into three groups, i.e., single-, double-, and multi-use groups. The study recorded a total of 127 plant species, belonging to 113 genera and distributed among 64 botanical families. The dominant plant families were the Asteraceae, with 8% of all species, followed by Lamiaceae (6%), Polygonaceae (5%) and Ranunculaceae (4%). The recorded plant taxa were frequently used for medicine (51.4% responses), followed by food (14.9%), and fodder (9.5%). Principal component analysis (PCA) separated three groups of provisioning services depending on plant consumption preference levels. Comparative analysis showed remarkable similarities in plant uses (food, medicinal) among the Gujjar and Bakarwal ethnic groups, as both groups share a common culture. Some plants like Azadirachta indica, Brassica campestris, Ulmus wallichiana, Amaranthus blitum, and Celtis australis were also used for magico-religious purposes. We also recorded some medicinal uses that are new to the ethnobotanical literature of the J&K Himalayas, such as for Betula utilis, Sambucus wightiana, and Dolomiaea macrocephala, in our case for example local medicinal recipe, which is derived from Dolomiaea macrocephala, often known as Nashasta, used to treat weakness, back pain, and joint pain. Similarly, we also recorded new food uses for Eremurus himalaicus. Moreover, we also observed some plants for instance, Fragaria nubicola, Betula utilis and Juniperus communis have spiritual significance (i.e., amulets and scrolls) for this part of the Himalayan region. The present study provides a useful tool for resource management and can help in developing scientifically informed strategies for the conservation of plant resources.

Plant Resources Utilization among Different Ethnic Groups of Ladakh in Trans-Himalayan Region.

The nomadic pastoral indigenous communities of the Ladakhi people share roots with Tibetan culture in terms of food, clothing, religion, festivals, and habits, and rely widely on plant resources for survival and livelihood. This survey was conducted during 2019-2021 to document the indigenous knowledge about plant resources of the Balti, Beda, and Brokpa communities of the Ladakh region, trans-Himalayas. Open- and close-ended semi-structured interviews (N = 184) and group discussions (N = 17) were used to collect the data. Quantitative data was further analyzed using various statistical tools. A total of 105 plant species belonging to 82 genera and 39 families were used as medicine, fuel wood, fragrance, oil, food, flavor, fodder, decoration, and dye. Among these, medicinal use was most prevalent, with 70% of use reports, followed by fodder and fuel wood. Leaves (27%) were the most preferred plant part used, followed by roots and flowers. The principal component analysis revealed five clusters of ethnobotanical usage, i.e., food, medicine, fuel wood, fodder, and fragrance, oil, dye, and flavor. The maximum number of plant species used was reported by the Brokpa, while the Beda reported the minimum number of plant species uses. Delphinium brunonianum, Waldheimia tomentosa, and Juniperus indica played a significant role in the cultural and religious ritual aspects, whereas Allium przewalskianum, Waldheimia tomentosa, Juniperus indica, and Hippophae rhamnoides were commonly used as a livelihood source among Ladakhi communities. The local people collected most plants (65%) for self-consumption, while the rest (35%) were sold in markets as a source of income. The sustainable utilization and management of plant resources by local people is a strategy to boost livelihoods and food security and alleviate poverty.