**3.2 Taxonomic diversity of wild edible plants**

A total of 51 wild edible plant species distributed among 42 genera and 32 families were documented from District Bagh. Maximum plant species were herbs (24 spp.; 45.09%) followed by shrubs (14 spp.; 27.45%) trees (12 spp.; 23.52%) and climber

(2 spp.; 3.92%) (**Figure 2**). The dominance of herbaceous flora is due to location of study area in dense forest at higher altitude where there is high rainfall and moisture content.

Legumenaceae is a dominant family in the area having 6 species followed by Rosaceae (5 spp.) and Moraceae (4 spp.) (**Figure 3**). The dominance of these families in the study area might because the habitat and environmental conditions of the area are favorable for the member of these families. The local inhabitants of the area had great familiarity to the member of these families. The presence of high amount of active ingredients in its members might be another reason for their dominance. Previous reports from other areas of Pakistan and world support our findings [7, 27, 28].

#### *3.2.1 Plants parts used*

Local inhabitant of study area used various plants part to prepare different herbal recipes. Leaves were most frequently used plant part (64.7%) for herbal preparation followed by whole plants (5.88%) root (9.8), fruit (27.4), seed (19.6), flowers (7.8) bark (11.7%) bulb (3.92%) bark gal (1.96%)and petals (1.96%) as shown in (**Figure 4**). The high efficacy of leaves in phytotherapy might be due to presence of extractable crude drugs, phytochemicals and many other mixtures. This studies conducted with different regions of Pakistan Bano et al. and Ahmad et al.

*Ethnomedicinal Appraisal of Traditionally Used Wild Edible Plants of District Bagh, Azad… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104492*

**Figure 3.** *Top ranked families of wild edible plant species.*

#### **Figure 4.**

*Plant used in prepation of herbal recipes.*

#### *3.2.2 Mode of consumption*

Wild edible plants were consumed in different ways by local inhbatiant to cure various ailments. Maximum species (species; 41.1%) were used in cooked form, followed by raw (15 species; 29.4), extract (6 species; 11.7%), soup (6 species; 11.7%)

**Figure 5.** *Mode of consumption of wild edible plant species.*

paste (4 species; 7.8%), powder (1 species; 1.9%) chewed (1 species; 1.9%) and poulite (1 species; 1.9) as shown in (**Figure 5**). Our findings are supported by previous documentation [7, 29–31]). Cooking and eating raw snakes are common practice in food anthropoglogy as descibed in various previous reports. The specific parts of wild edible plants are diectly cooked as a vegetable by mixing with water, soup and milk friuts are eat in raw form. Paste and poulite are apply on skin for various diseases treatment like scabies, skin worms.

### *3.2.3 Quantitative etnobotanical indices*

### *3.2.3.1 Use value (UV)*

The relative importance of plant species associated with the use of particular species reported by the informants is reflected by use value. The use value of document species ranges from 0.1 to 1. The maximum UV values was reported for *Berberis lycium Royle* (1) and *Morus nigra* (1). Other species with high use value are *Melia azedarach* (0.9), *Ficus palmata* (0.9) and *Dryopertis racemose* (0.8) (**Table 2**). The high usage of the reported species indicates a strong association and dependence of local communities on surrounding flora, specifically for the treatment of various diseases [32]. Moreover, the plant species which are used excessively are assumed to be biologically more active; therefore, these should be subjected to phytochemical and pharmacological screening to increase sustainable utilization and conservation of plant resources [33].

#### *3.2.3.2 Relative importance (RI)*

Relative importance reflect diversity of particular species for curing various ailments in area. The relative importance of the documented species ranges between 12.14 and 90.00. The highest RI value was calculated for *Urginea indica* (90.00) followed by *Elaeagnus umbellata* (77.86), *Pimpinella diversifolia* (73.57) and *Oxalis corniculata* (68.57) [34] (**Table 2**). The speies having high relative importance are


*Ethnomedicinal Appraisal of Traditionally Used Wild Edible Plants of District Bagh, Azad… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104492*


*Key: UV, use value; Ui, the number of uses that account for each species through every number of informants; FC, frequency of citation; RFC, relative frequency of citation; PH, relative number of pharmacological properties attributed to a single plant, BS, Number of body systems treated by a single species; Rel, relative number; RI, relative importance.*

#### **Table 2.**

*Quantitative ethnomedicinal data of wild edible plants.*

used in excess by the native and have strong pharmacological potential [2] and their significance increases when used for curing number of ailments [35].

## *3.2.4 Informant consensus factor*

The consensus of informants on wild edible plants to cure various diseases was determined by using ICF. To develop this consensus, all the treated aliments are categorized into 10 diseases groups. The value of ICF varied between 0.4 and 0.94. (**Figure 6**). The highest value of ICF (0.94) is digestive system and liver disease categoreis. The most frequently used plants for this category are *Berberis lycium*, *Dryopertis racemose*, *Ziziphus oxyphylla*, *Melia azedarach*, *Ficus palmata*, *Allium sativum*, *Zanthoxylum alatum*, *Medicago polymorpha*, *Ziziphus sativa*, *Prunus domestica*, *Taraxacum officinale*, *Rubus fruticocus*, *Amarantus caudatus*, *Elaeagnus umbellata*, *Morus nigra.* Previous reports from other study area also reflect high ICF for this disease category [2, 36–38]. The prevalance of diestive system disorder might be due to unavilabilty o clean drinking water and poor hygenic condition in the area. The secound highest ICF value was recorded for skin diseases.

#### *3.2.5 Fidelity level*

The fidelity level of wild edible plants species for curing different ailments in the study area varies between 30 and 100%. The fidelity level of only *Berberis lycium* was found 100 FL% which was used for the treatment of various diseases like diabetes, jaundice, diarrhea and stomach treatment. It was followed by *Rubus fruticocus* (83.3%) used to cure sore thorat, *Ziziphus oxyphylla* (83.3%) used to cure Jaundice and *Rumex dentatus* (80%) used to cure jaundice. Other species with high FL value are *Urginea*

*Ethnomedicinal Appraisal of Traditionally Used Wild Edible Plants of District Bagh, Azad… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104492*

Disease categories

#### **Figure 6.**

*Diseases categories treated by wild edible plant species in District Bagh. Key: RST, respiratory system diseases; EED, eye and ear diseases; MTD, mouth throat diseases; D, diabetes; DSLD, digestive system and liver diseases; MJD, muscular and joint diseases; SD, skin diseases; URSD, urinary and reproductive system diseases; CSD, circulatory system diseases; F, fever; C, cancer; HP, hair problems; BLSD, blood and lymphatic system diseases; A, antidote; O, others.*

*indica* (76.7%), *Artemisia maritima* (76.5%), *Ziziphus nummularia* (76.0%)*, Rosa abietina* (75%) and *Trigonella gracilis* (75%) (**Figure 7**). These spp. are mostly use to cure the digestive respiratory skin diseases like cold, dyscentery, diarrhea, fever and ulcer. Some other reserachers also recoded high fidelity level of these species in their

**Figure 7.** *Top ranked species with high fidelity level of wild edible plants.*

investigated area [39]. These results reflect the dominance of particular disease in the investigated area, which are cured by using medicinal plant species with high fidelity level [7, 40]. The species with high FL are highly used in the investigated area as compared to the species with low FL value. The species having low FL values are not most important by the native of the study area [36]. The species with high FL value should be subject to further phytochemical and pharmacological investigation to validate the traditional knowledge.
