ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDIES OF WEEDS IN DISTRICT MARDAN, PAKISTAN

Ethno-botanical study was conducted at village Ikrampur (Baizokharki) of district Mardan, Pakistan. A total of 68 plant species, belonging to 34 families and 63 genera were reported as used by the local farming community for different purposes like fuel, fodder, furniture, vegetable, shelter, ornamental and others. Most species belonged to Poaceae and Asteraceae (6 spp. each) followed by Labiatae (5), Moraceae and Solanaceae (4 spp. each), Apocynaceae and Mimosaceae (3 spp. each). The Asclepiadaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Rhamnaceae, Zygophyllaceae, Brassicaceae, Malvaceae, Myrtaceae and Papilionaceae (2 spp. each), while rest of the 17 families were represented by only 1 species each (1.47%). Whole plants were the most commonly used part of 41 species (60.29%), followed by leaves of 15 species (22.05%), stem of 14 species (20.58%), dry and fresh branches of 10 species (14.70%), the fresh or young branches are used for making baskets. While the root and fruit of 2.94% of the total species are used for different purposes. The study provided very useful information regarding weeds for the vegetation managers in terms of developing effective weed control and utilization programs in the studied location. Further studies are recommended to conduct the same type of surveys to collect more information helpful for researchers dealing with weed science and medicinal herbs.