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Identification of Medicinally Used Flora Using Pollen Features Imaged in the Scanning Electron Microscopy in the Lower Margalla Hills Islamabad Pakistan

Part of: Micrographia Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2018

Muhammad Sufyan ,
Ikram Badshah ,
Mushtaq Ahmad ,
Muhammad Zafar ,
Saraj Bahadur  and
Neelam Rashid
Muhammad Sufyan
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan
Ikram Badshah
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan
Mushtaq Ahmad
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan
Muhammad Zafar*
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan
Saraj Bahadur
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan
Neelam Rashid
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan
*
*Author for correspondence: Muhammad Zafar, E-mail: zafar@qau.edu.pk
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Abstract

The present study planned to assess the medicinally important plants in the lower Margalla Hills of Islamabad, Pakistan using scanning electron microscopy of their pollens. Both quantitative and qualitative characters of the pollens were analyzed. The shapes of the pollen were prolate, spheroidal, elliptical, and oblate. Exine sculpturing showed rugulate, scabrate, psilate gemmate, and reticulate ornamentation. The people residing in the rural areas are thought to depend, primarily, on medicinal plant resources for many health care needs. A sample of 140 respondents was selected and interviewed by using a stratified random sampling technique. Results showed that the local communities of lower Margalla Hills are highly dependent on plants to treat various ailments, for example, respiratory (28%), digestive (46%) nervous, circulatory and dermatological problems (6% each), and reproductive problems (8%). The continuous dependence of the local community on ethnomedicinally important plants has led to serious degradation of the natural forest of lower Margalla Hills. Priority-based conservation and sustainable use of these forest resources are necessary, and use of alternative resources will also help in the forest conservation.

Keywords

lower Margalla Hillsmedicinal floraauthenticationSEMIslamabad—Pakistan
Type
Micrographia
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , June 2018 , pp. 292 - 299
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2018 

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Footnotes

Cite this article: Sufyan M, Badshah I, Ahmad M, Zafar M, Bahadur S and Rashid N (2018) Identification of Medicinally Used Flora Using Pollen Features Imaged in the Scanning Electron Microscopy in the Lower Margalla Hills Islamabad Pakistan. Microsc Microanal24(3): 292–299. doi: 10.1017/S1431927618000326

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