Ethno botanical Wisdom of Inhabitant of Devi Galli Azad Kashmir

Ethnobotany deals with study of the relationship between people of a specific culture and native plants and plays a significant role in understanding the active relations between social, traditional systems and biological diversity Husain et al. [1]; Mahmood et al.[2]. From many centuries and even today medicinal plants are used for dealing and prevention of various disorders and for the advancement of good health for people Alpuerto et al.[3]; Khatun et al. [4]. In Pakistan medicinal plants have been used as remedies for human diseases as well as for animal diseases for many centuries Haq [5]. Freshly collected ingredients from plants in small and massive quantities are used for ailments and also provided to the herbal industries through traded in the market place Uniyal et al. [6]. Hilly regions offer properties and services such as forests, agriculture foodstuffs, and water and biodiversity resources not only useable for local hilly area’s people but also to a large part of the population living in plain areas Awan and Ahmad [7].


Introduction
Ethnobotany deals with study of the relationship between people of a specific culture and native plants and plays a significant role in understanding the active relations between social, traditional systems and biological diversity Husain et al. [1]; Mahmood et al. [2]. From many centuries and even today medicinal plants are used for dealing and prevention of various disorders and for the advancement of good health for people Alpuerto et al. [3]; Khatun et al. [4]. In Pakistan medicinal plants have been used as remedies for human diseases as well as for animal diseases for many centuries Haq [5]. Freshly collected ingredients from plants in small and massive quantities are used for ailments and also provided to the herbal industries through traded in the market place Uniyal et al. [6]. Hilly regions offer properties and services such as forests, agriculture foodstuffs, and water and biodiversity resources not only useable for local hilly area's people but also to a large part of the population living in plain areas Awan and Ahmad [7].
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) is full of medicinal plants diversity. Many studies have been conducted on the uses of therapeutic plants by the indigenous populations of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Ishtiaq et al. [8]. District Sudhnoti is adjacent to Poonch division and situated at the height of 5400 ft. Most of areas of district Sudhnoti are out of the snow zone but some are in snow zone Khan et al. [9]. The flora of this district is also different from other districts. Vegetation of this district is patchy and dense with high alpine trees, whereas shrubs and small bushes are in large number. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 80% of the population of developing countries relies on traditional medicines, mostly plant drugs, for their primary healthcare needs (WHO, 2017). Demand for medicinal plant is increasing in both developing and developed countries due to growing recognition of natural products, being non-narcotic, having no side-effects, easily available at affordable prices and sometime the only source of health care available to the poor Basha. The area is selected due to pronounced variety of medicinal plants but the region is still unexplored. The main objective was to document the knowledge of the local people of Devi Galli about the medicinal uses of local plants.

a) Study Area:
The study area, District Sudhnoti is part of Division Poonch. Ethnobotanical study was limited to Devi Galli district (Sudhnoti) and some allied areas of district Sudhnoti Azad Kashmir. District Sudhnoti is spread over 569 sq. km and Devi Galli is a part of Sudhnoti Rafi et al. [10]. b) Field Trips: Field survey was consisting of plant collection, photography and data records. Semi-structured and open-ended interviews (questionnaire) were planned to gather ethnobotanical data. Interviews were taken general from native people of different age groups, shepherds and herbalists (Hakims) in their local language. c) Plants Collection and Preservation: During various field surveys medicinally important plants were collected by keeping in view their utilization, flowering period and their products. These fully dehydrated samples were mounted on herbarium sheets and then noted their local name, botanical name, family, flower colour and locality. The plant species were recognized by plant taxonomists of UAAR and also used the Flora of Pakistan.

d) Quantitative Ethnobotanical Data Analysis:
Indigenous knowledge was quantitatively calculated using various methods like Relative Frequency Citation (RFC), Use Value (UV) and Family Importance Value (FIV).

e) Relative Frequency Citation (RFC):
Quantitative analysis of the collected ethno medicinal information was done by using a catalog of relative frequency citation (RFC) as; RFC= FC/N (0 < RFC < 1) This formula is given by the frequency of citation; FC that is the number of informants who mention the use of the species) while N is the total number of informants participating in the survey Vitalini et al. [11].

f)
Use Value (UV): The Use Value (UV) is a good measure to all the possible uses of a plant species. UV gives us the virtual significance of a species that are cited by an informant for a specific species of medicinal plant. It will be intended by using the following given formula Savikin et al. [12].
Where Ui is the number of uses revealed by each informer for a given species and N is the total number of informants.

Vegetation records and ethno-demography data
During Ethnobotanical study, a total of 98 plant species related to 88 genera and 51 different families are documented. Most of these species are used by native individuals for a multiplicity of purposes. (Table 1)

Relative Frequency Citation (RFC)
Relative frequency citation was considered to record maximum therapeutic flora of the area which is utilized for treatment of

Use Value (UV)
The use value (UV) is technique for measurable analysis of data it gives the important uses of species. Some of plants were recorded with high UV that are Anagallis arvensis L.

Family Importance Value (FIV)
Family importance value is calculated and described in the form of graph in Figures 1,2. Amaranthaceae, Asteraceae, Poaceae, Moraceae, Convolvolaceae, Rosaceae, Fabaceae and Lamiaceae were most abundantly reported families.

Discussion
In present survey, the ethno botanical importance of the plants inhabiting Devi Galli is explored. Almost all the plant species were found important in one way or the other. Ajaib et al. [13 ] mentioned the medicinal importance of Berrberis lycium Royle, Jasminum humile L and Rubus elipticus Smith which were recorded in district Kotli, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Ahmad et al. [13] also reported ethnobotanical uses of plants reported from district kotli including Achyranthus aspera and Adiantum venustum D. Don. Importance of these plants is also confirmed by Qureshi, Mehmood, Khan, Ishtiaq, Amjad. The need of the hour is to document and preserve the traditional knowledge about the medicinal uses of different plants as the new people are giving more importance to allelopathic medicines and the traditional knowledge is only confined to old people.

Conclusion
The current investigation discloses that indigenous knowledge is limited to native values, so this valuable treasure will be surely lost by any change in traditional culture. Ethno botanically important plants which are valuable global resources are threatened by the loss of habitats and over exploitation. The principle reason of over exploitation is lack of knowledge about the importance of plants and suitable harvest time and practice. The Devi Galli (Sodhnuti) contains diverse vegetation due to variation in climatic conditions and altitude. The people of the area to a large extent fulfill their common requirements such as food, medicine, fodder or forage