AN ETHNOBOTANICAL SURVEY OF MEDICINAL PLANTS USED FOR THE TREATMENT OF SNAKEBITE AND SCORPION STING AMONG THE PEOPLE OF NAMAL VALLEY, MIANWALI DISTRICT, PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Snakebite and scorpion sting are the most neglected public problems especially in the poor rural communities of South Asia including Pakistan. The frequency of snakebites and scorpion stings in Pakistan has increased tremendously due to destruction of habitats of snakes and scorpions as a result of deforestation and the consequent migration of these poisonous animals towards human settlements. The management of the frequency of snake bites and scorpion stings has been unsatisfactory in this region. In order to investigate and collect information from the inhabitants on the curative values of plants for treatment of snakebite and scorpion sting, an ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants was carried out from September 2015 to July 2016 to document information from 14 villages of Namal Valley of District Mianwali, Punjab, Pakistan. The Martin method was followed for collecting information from informants about the medicinal plants used for these poisonous bites. A total of 68 plant species belonging to 37 families and 61 genera was recorded. Information obtained included the common names and their families while photographs of all plants recorded were obtained using the Olympus digital camera. The plants documented were herbs (54%), shrubs (26%) and trees (20%). The family Solanaceae was found to be the most frequently used. The dominant plant part in the recipes obtained is the leaf (22%). The most frequently used mode of preparation in the recipes was the paste. Calotropis procera, Arisaema jacquemontii, Albizia lebbeck and Portulaca oleracea were the major medicinal plants recorded. The present study is the first ethnobotanical survey of the area and the first report of the medicinal plants used in the treatment of poisonous snake bites and scorpion stings among the indigenous communities of Namal Valley of District Mianwali, Punjab, Pakistan.