PLANTS AND PLANT RESOURCES OF MAIDAN VALLEY DIR, NORTHERN PAKISTAN

Abstract

The study of plants and plant resources was carried out in Maidan Valley, District Dir of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan to assess and analyze the potential and problems of the area. It is the first attempt to explore extensively Maidan Valley with particular emphasis on medicinal plants and biodiversity of the area. Maidan Valley is experiencing high population pressure on its land and forest resources with a population density of 453/km 2 and a growth rate of 3.0 percent per annum. Intensive exploration of Maidan Valley shows that 757 Angiosperm species are found here representing 113 families and 420 genera, among these families Asteraceae is the leading one with 61 species in almost all habitats showing their highest ecological amplititude. 10 species were recorded as new addition to the flora of Pakistan from Maidan Valley. The gymnosperms are represented by three families with 10 species of 8 genera. Out of these, 7 species are indigenous and the rest of the 3 are exotic. 29 moss species of 19 genera representing 11 families has been recorded which is considered as one of the highest number of mosses from a single valley, as comparable to any area of Pakistan. The liverworts species collected were 14 belongs to 10 genera. 19 Pteridophytes species with 12 genera distributed among 9 families in Maidan Valley. Various species of mushrooms can be seen in the area but the prominent with high economic value are Morchella esculenta and Morchella conica. The ethnobotanical information revealed that there are 46 different uses of 363 plants in the valley. The number of plants in each use were quantified and the major uses are of 274 plant species as medicine, 96 fuel wood, 43 pot herb, 30 fencing, hey fodder 26, soil binder 24, furniture 23, fodder and poison 22 species each. The part use data shows that mostly the leaves, whole plant, fruit and stem are in common use. There are 77 species belonging to 70 genera and 49 families used in different monoherbal and polyherbal recipes. The plants used as fodder are 85 species of 41 families and 77 genera. Among them 18 are grasses, 43 are herbs and shrubs and 25 are trees. Fuel wood species are the main sources of cooking energy and the most popular fuel in the Valley. Use of multi-fuels, is the common energy strategy in the household sector. High costs of electricity restrict its use as fuel. About 10% people are engaged in collection of fuel wood directly from the forest areas whereas 54% people purchase fuel wood from the local shops and 36% obtain fuel wood from their farmlands. It has been discovered that due to several factors the species are no more available in their respective habitats due to over collection and has been threatened by unsustainable extraction, grazing, cutting, deforestation, unawareness and misuse. One of the major causes of the degradation of forests is poverty that most of the people live below poverty line in hilly areas. Sustainable harvest of natural resources may help to partly alleviate poverty. Programmes for natural resources management must become integral parts of overall developments strategies. There are 96 threatened plant species in Maidan Valley, of which 34 species were ranked as critically endangered, 26 species endangered, 20 species vulnerable and 16 species were assessed as infrequent. The flora of Maidan Valley has 12.33 % threatened plants, 4.37% critically endangered, 3.34% endangered, 2.57% vulnerable and 2.06% are infrequent. There are several variants of wild fruit species such as the Pyrus pashia, Prunus armeniaca, Prunus amygdalus, Malus pumilla and Diospyrus kaki, which require conservation for future germplasm from the area before their extinction.