Documenting the indigenous knowledge on medicinal flora from communities residing near Swat River (Suvastu) and in high mountainous areas in Swat-Pakistan Sayed Afzal Shah a , Naseer Ali Shah b,n , Shafi Ullah c , Muhammad Maqsood Alam a , Hussain Badshah a , Sana Ullah d , Abdul Samad Mumtaz a,nn a Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan b Department of Biosciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan c Department of Biochemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan d Department of Animal Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan article info Article history: Received 10 October 2015 Received in revised form 30 January 2016 Accepted 6 February 2016 Available online 8 February 2016 Keywords: Ethnomedicinal plants Pakistan Swat (Suavastu) Charbagh Vincetoxicum arnottianum abstract Aim of the study: The present study aimed at documenting the indigenous knowledge on medicinal flora from the local communities residing near Swat River and high mountainous areas in Swat, Pakistan. Materials and methods: Field study was carried out in 2013 À14. The area was visited 17 times, and semi- structured and open-ended interviews were conducted in both the plain area nearby the Swat River (4 villages) and mountains (7 villages). A total of 83 erudite informants participated in the interviews with their prior consent. The collected data were analysed through quantitative indices viz., medicinal use value (MUV), relative frequency citation (RFC), family use value (FUV), informant consensus factor (ICF) and fidelity level (FL). Results: A total of 78 species belonging to 45 vascular plant families were documented as medicinally important. Lamiaceae was observed the dominant medicinal plant family with 11 species, leaf was the most used part, and powder the most preferred preparation type. Maximum MUV (1) was shared by 15 species while maximum RFC (0.385) was demonstrated by both Brassica juncea and Lepidium sativum. Smaller families with mostly 1 species showed higher FUV while among the larger families Amar- yllidaceae and Papaveraceae showed maximum FUV of 0.89 and 0.87,respectively. Highest FL was shown by Mentha arvensis (70%) against gastrointestinal diseases. Highest ICF was demonstrated by hepatic disorders (0.93). Furthermore, we revealed 108 indigenous herbal medicinal recipes, 6 plants added to the medicinal plant trade list, 1 species (Vincetoxicum arnottianum) reported for the first time as med- icinal plant, and several new uses for 49 well known medicinal plants. Conclusion: The present survey documents diverse plant species that are utilised by local communities for treating a broad spectrum of disorders. Quantitative indices helped in marking important and most preferred plants. To conclude, we recommend the plants for pharmacological studies, documenting new uses, especially Vincetoxicum arnottianum, never screened before. & 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The relationship between humans and plants in ethnomedic- inal perspective is very interesting and needs thorough doc- umentation from the cultural communities. Traditionally, thera- pies based on herbal preparations have always played an important role in the health care system in many countries. Ac- cording to World Health Organization (Bannerman et al., 1983) approximately 80% of the world's population in developing countries depends on traditional medicines for primary healthcare because of their low cost and affordability. Also, the modern treatment facilities do not reach the aborigines living in remote settlements (WHO, 2002). The plant based collections of early explorers, and ethnobotany have played a significant role in the development of new drugs in many centuries (Heinrich, 2000). In the developed countries, 25% of the medical drugs are based on plants and their derivatives (Principe, 2005). A number of studies Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jep Journal of Ethnopharmacology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2016.02.008 0378-8741/& 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author. nn Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: drnaseeralishah@gmail.com (N.A. Shah), asmumtaz@qau.edu.pk (A.S. Mumtaz). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 182 (2016) 67–79