Cross-regional ethnomedicinal study of plants-based herbal tea used to cure various diseases in six tehsils of district Buner, northern Pakistan

To highlight the importance of medicinal plants used by the local communities, ethnomedicinal research is significant. This research aimed to collect data about the plants that local populations in six Tehsils of the District Buner utilized to prepare herbal teas that were used for treating different ailments. Through a semi-structured questionnaire, face-to-face interviews and group interviews with the informant were conducted. The quantification of the data was done using the informant consensus factor (ICF). From 2018 to 2021, ethnomedicinal information was collected about 125 plant species after interviewing 853 informants. Most of the ethnomedical information came from people with an age range from 50 to 59. With 15 species, the Lamiaceae family was the dominant one. Out of 125 plant species, medicinal uses of 45 species were reported from all six tehsils. Furthermore, the medicinal uses of six species were reported from one-one tehsil. Moreover, for 78 species new medicinal uses are reported. Similarly, for the first time, this study reports six medicinal plants used for the treatment of corona disease from the study area. The highest ICF value is calculated for Urological diseases (0.94). Based on the results, it can be speculated that the native community still regularly uses medicinal plants to treat a range of illnesses.