ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDY OF COMMON WEEDS OF DIR KOHISTAN VALLEY, KHYBER PAKHTOONKHWA, PAKISTAN

The present study was confined to traditional medicinal uses of weeds. Study was conducted in 10remote villages of Dir Kohistan valley in order to collect information from 100 resourceful persons including 85 men and 15 women related to the collection and use of weeds. Questionnaires were developed to collect data from local inhabitants on 26 weeds species belonging to 16 families.Asteraceae is the leading family with 8 plant species. Data were systematically arranged in alphabetic order of botanical name, family name followed by English name, local name, part used and ethnomedicinal uses. It was found that the area is rich in indigenous knowledge related to weeds but still there is large number of underutilized weeds which could not prove useful yet. The knowledge isgoing to be lost because of interference due to modern cultural changes. Continuity of this practice will result in total loss of such knowledge. It was the first attempt to understand the importance of weeds with special reference to their medicinal uses in this area. It is suggested that such type of studies should be carried out in future on utilization and conservation of indigenous knowledge of weeds.