Vol. 8(1), pp. 42-53, January 2014 DOI: 10.5897/AJPS12.067 ISSN 1996-0824 ©2014 Academic Journals http://www.academicjournals.org/AJPS African Journal of Plant Science Full Length Research Paper Traditional knowledge on plant resources of Ashezai and Salarzai Valleys, District Buner, Pakistan Zaman Sher 1 , Farrukh Hussain 2 and Muhammad Ibrar 2 1 Government Degree College, Lahor, District Swabi, Pakistan. 2 Department of Botany, University of Peshawar, Pakistan. Accepted 23 October, 2013 An ethnobotanical study was done in the Ashezai and Salarzai Valleys, District Buner, Pakistan. A total of 163 plant species belonging to 73 families were reported with the help of standardized questionnaires for their traditional, medicinal and economic uses. Out of these, 62 families were dicots; 8 monocots and two pteridophytes. Gymnosperms were represented by one family. Asteraceae had 16 spp. which was followed by Papilionaceae and Poaceae (each with 9 spp.); Lamiaceae, Moraceae and Rosaceae (each with 6 spp.); Apiaceae, Polygonaceae and Solanaceae (each with 5 spp.); Amaranthaceae, Brassicaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Euphorbiaceae (each with 4 species); Oleaceae and Salicaceae had 3 species each. The remaining families had less number of species. They included 110 medicinal plants, 51 fodder and forage species, 37 fuel wood species, 33 vegetable/pot-herb species, 22 fruit yielding species, 20 thatching/roofing species, 13 timber species, 18 ornamental species, 8 poisonous plants, 10 fencing/ hedges plants, 4 agricultural tools making species, 5 honeybee species. Deforestation, biotic interference and overgrazing are the responsible culprits for dwindling phytodiversity in the investigated area. This study might be helpful to ethnobotanists, conservationists, ecologist, pharmacologists, taxonomists, wild life and water shed managers as baseline data. Key words: Ethnobotanical study, plant species, medicinal plants, traditional knowledge. INTRODUCTION Ethnobotany can be defined as the "study of direct interrelations between humans and plants so the results from various investigations reveal important pharmacological activities of plants which may be used in developing novel therapeutic agents”. Herbal medicines play an important role in health care programs worldwide, especially in developing countries, because there are no major side effects. The residents of the investigated area mostly depend on cattle rearing and their products and on forest resources. Overuse of forest resources has placed them under intense biotic pressure, which poses potential danger for wildlife habitat and medicinal plants. Mood (2008) reported some floristic and ethnobotanical aspects of 37 families, 128 genera and 160 species in Birjand area near the Afghanistan border in eastern part of Iran. Ozturk et al. (2008) published some data on the toxic and fatal behavior of some poisonous plants widely distributed in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Studies on ethnobotany have been conducted in India (Mustafa et al., 2000; Siddiqui et al., 2000). Many of such studies have also been done on the ethnobotany of various parts of District Swat (Sher et al., 2003, 2004; Hussain et al., 2004, 2005; Ibrar et al., 2007). In Pakistan, some ethno- botanical studies have also been carried out (Dastagir, 2001; Durrani et al., 2003; Gilani et al., 2003; Sher, 2005; Hussain et al., 2007; Ahmad and Husain, 2008; Usain *Corresponding author. E-mail: zamanbotany@gmail.com.