HERBAL RMIDIES USED FOR GASTROINTESTINAL DISORDERS IN KAGHAN VALLEY, NWFP, PAKISTAN

The herbal medicines occupy distinct position right from primitive period to the present-daytime. The utilization of biologically diverse plant resources for various ailments is the lifelong struggle of human race. In spite of their availability and utilization by large proportion by the middle hills dweller, no concreted effort has been made for sustainable development of this renewable natural resource. Kaghan Valley is no exception to this. Being a neglected part of NWFP, its people mainly depend upon plant resources for their first aid. In the present study indigenous knowledge of plants use for the gastrointestinal disorders collected from research Kaghan valley includes 27 poly herbal recipes. These recipes are composed of 43 medicinal plant species. Out of these, 27 plants species constitute the major component and the remainder 15 species are used as minor component. The maximum number of recipes (15) are used for the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery followed by anthelmentic recipes (10), while only 4 are used for abdominal pain.