ETHNOBOTANICAL USES OF TRADITIONAL PLANTS FOR MEDICINAL, FOOD, COSMETIC, AND CULTURAL PURPOSES IN SIBI DIVISION, BALOCHISTAN, PAKISTAN

Indigenous communities have developed extensive knowledge of local plant resources through long-term interaction with their natural environment. This ethnobotanical knowledge contributes to traditional healthcare, food security, personal care, cultural practices, and household livelihoods. The present study investigated traditional plant utilization in Sibi Division, Balochistan, Pakistan, with particular emphasis on medicinal, nutritional, cosmetic/skin-beauty, cultural, and other practical applications. Field investigations were conducted from 2022 to 2023 in Sibi, Lehri, Haji Shaher, Methri, and surrounding rural communities. Ethnobotanical information was obtained through field observations, semi-structured questionnaires, individual interviews, group discussions, and participant observation involving traditional healers, herbalists, farmers, shepherds, elderly people, and women possessing knowledge of local plants. The informants ranged from 21 to 81 years of age. Plant specimens were collected, photographed, preserved as voucher specimens, and botanically identified with the assistance of taxonomic expertise and comparison with botanical resources. The study documented approximately 30 useful plant species representing diverse botanical families and a broad range of applications. Important medicinally used species included Azadirachta indica, Withania coagulans, Aloe barbadensis, Mentha royleana, Calotropis procera, Acacia nilotica, Withania somnifera, Solanum surattense, and other locally recognized medicinal plants. Several species were also used as food resources, including Vigna radiata, Sorghum bicolor, Ziziphus nummularia, Amaranthus hybridus, Chenopodium album, Capparis decidua, Portulaca oleracea, and Phoenix dactylifera. Plants such as Azadirachta indica and Aloe barbadensis were particularly associated with skin and personal-care applications. The findings demonstrate that local plant resources have multifunctional importance and form an important component of indigenous livelihoods and healthcare practices. At the same time, environmental degradation, overgrazing, deforestation, climate stress, changing lifestyles, migration, and declining intergenerational transmission threaten both plant resources and associated knowledge. Systematic documentation, conservation, sustainable harvesting, scientific validation, and ethically appropriate development of plant-based products could help preserve this biocultural heritage and provide a basis for future pharmacological, nutraceutical, and cosmeceutical research.