2. Floristic inventory and ecological evaluation of plants of Jani Khel, Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
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Abstract
Ethnobotanical study aids in the discovery of novel pharmaceuticals for the treatment of various ailments in scientific times. Local people have gathered ethnobotanic information through a hit-and-run manner from millennia of indigenous wisdom and passed it down from generation to generation. This knowledge serves as a foundation for scientifically investigating a plant's potential medicinal effects. It will also provide a baseline for researchers in the various field of plant sciences. The current study was conducted during 2015-16 to record the floristic composition and ecological characteristics of the flora of Jani Khel, district Bannu. The floral composition revealed 80 species belonging to 29 families. Among them, 27 families were dicotyledons and 02 were monocotyledons. Papilionaceae and Poaceae were the leading families each with 08 species followed by Asteraceae and Cucurbitaceae (07 species each), Umbelliferae (06 species), Brassicaceae and Chenopodiaceae (05 species each), Mimosaceae, Moraceae and Solanaceae (04 species each), Alliaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Plantaginaceae and Rhamnaceae were represented by 2 species each, while the remaining families comprised single species. Therophytes (48 species, 60%) was the dominant life form, followed by Microphanerophytes (10 species, 12.5 %), Hemicryptophytes (08 species, 10%), Chamaephytes (07 species, 8.75%), Nanophanerophytes (04 species, 5%) and Geophytes (03 species, 3.75%). Nanophylls with (27 species, 33.75%) and Microphylls (20 species, 25%) were dominant leaf size classes. Megaphylls and Aphyllous were considered the least infrequent leaf size spectra in the area. It was observed that the research area has a diversity of plants, but due to anthrapogenic activities the flora is under pressure. So, measures should be taken to conserve the flora.
Keywords: Bannu; Ecological characteristics; Floristic composition; Jani Khel