FLORISTIC AND ETHNOBOTANICAL ENUMERATION OF THAL DESERT, PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Thal Desert, Pakistan has unique flora with reference to xeric conditions. Like other desert ecosystems of the country, this desert has been ignored to document the plant biodiversity and its ethnobotanical uses. Keeping in view, the area was surveyed to record flora and ethnobotanical information during September, 2011 to August, 2014. A total of 248 species distributed across 166 genera and 38 families were identified during the survey period. Besides, Heliotropium pakistanicum, H.crispum var. angulosum and H. europaeum subsp. thaliensis are determined as addition to science, while Themeda triandra as new recorded for Pakistan. It inculdes one fern, 4 monocots and 33 dicots families were determined. The most dominating family was Poaceae that contributed 52 species (21.49%), followed by Fabaceae (34 spp., 13.05%) and Amaranthaceae & Asteraceae (17 spp., 7.02% each), Boraginaceae (11 spp., 4.5%), Brassicaceae, Cyperaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Solanaceae (8 spp., 3.31% each), while, rest of the families contributed few number of species. The flora comprised on nine life span in which 122 species (46.74%) were herbaceous nature, followed by grasses (51 spp., 19.54%), trees (28 spp., 10.73%), shrubs (27 spp., 10.34), sedges (9 spp., 3.45%) and climbers (3.07%). With reference to ethnobotanical study, local inhabitants utilize native flora to fulfill their eight use needs such as folk medicine, fuel, fruits, vegetable, fodder/forage, ethno veterinary, soil binder and others. Most of the species were recognized as palatable by the herders and used as fodder (234 spp., 35.62%), followed by folk medicine (120 spp., 18.26%), fuel (108 spp., 16.44%), others (64 xiii spp., 9.74%), soil binder (48 spp., 7.31%), wild fruits (40 spp., 6.09%), vegetables (25 spp., 3.81%) and Ethno veterinary (18 spp., 2.74%). Compared to the medicinal literature, four species viz., Limeum indicum, Launaea residifolia, Farsetia jacquemontiiand Indigofera hochstetteripossessed novel medicinal uses not earlier reported in the literature. Besides, 76 species possessed new uses in addition to the medicinal records. Capparis decidua (Karenh), Moringa oleifera (Suhanjna), Prosopis cineraria (Jand), Salvadora oleoides (Pilu)and Ziziphus spinachristi (Jhar beri) were highly utilized species and ranked first amongst all species which fulfilled six major use categories. This comprehensive study will provide a useful starting point for further ecological and bioprospective research of the study area. The findings of this study will be helpful to foresters, rangeland managers, medicinal plant growers & collectors, economic botanists, ecologists, physiologists, breeders, etc.