Medicinal Plants - International Journal of Phytomedicines and Related Industries

The present work was carried out in higher altitudinal areas of the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. This area is the habitat for rare herbs and medicinally important plant species. The use value, fidelity level, informant consensus factor and relative frequency of citation were analyzed to assess important plant species used by local inhabitants. A total of 73 plant species, which come under 66 genera and 41 families were identified. The Asteraceae, Lamiaceae and Polygonaceae were the most utilized families and regarding plant formulation, most of the species were used as powder (30.77%) and paste (26.37%). The highest use value was recorded for Cedrus deodara (0.13) and eight species were calculated with the lowest (0.01) use value. The frequency of citation (FC) was found to be in the range of 0.38 to 4.89 and the relative frequency of citation (RFC) was found to be in the range of 0.004-0.049. The plants were grouped into 15 different disease clusters, with the highest informant consensus factor (ICF) value recorded for pain and microbial infection followed by digestive disorders and cancer. These plant species are used in unsustainable ways which leads to huge damage to biodiversity. The study would help structure a database of native important species and the database would help develop different conservation strategies and management plans. Such studies also encourage the conservation of traditional knowledge and the utilization of medicinal plants.