Ethnobotanical Study of Wild and Semi-wild Edible Plants of Gida Ayana District, East Wollega Zone, Oromia, Western Ethiopia

An ethnobotanical study of wild and semi-wild edible plants (WSWEPs) was conducted in Gida Ayana District, East Wollega, Oromia, Ethiopia, to investigate WSWEPs and document and the associated ethnobotanical indigenous knowledge of the community. Ethnobotanical data related to WSWEPs were collected using focus group discussion, direct field observation and semi-structured interview. Informant consensus, direct matrix ranking and Preference ranking were conducted for cross checking and verification of the information and descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.The result of the study revealed that the study is consists of 47 WSWEPs species which belongs 30 families and 41 genera. Of the families Moraceae was the dominant family which contributed the highest number of species 5 (10.6%), followed by Asteraceae 3 (6.4%). According to the informants, the highly cited WSWEPs were Syzygium guineense (Willd.) Dc. 73.1%, followed by Rubus steudneri 70.8% and Carissa spinarum L 69.6%. The result of study study also revealed that higher number of WSWEPs were reported by men and elder members of the community than by women and younger members. The key informants reported meaningfully higher mean number of edible species of WSWEPs than the general informants (P < 0.05). Children (47.3 ± 1.14) and women (25.7 ± 0.67) were the major gatherers followed by men (14.9 ± 0.48) and all household members (12.1 ± 0.47). The majority of respondents (44.45 ± 0.96) reported that WSWEPs were consumed by children followed by men (23.06 ± 0.41), any household (14.38 ± 0.36%), women (11.59 ± 0.31) and elders 6.53 ± 0.25). Most of the WSWEPs species were shrubs signified with 21 species (42%), followed by trees 20 species (40%). Most inhabitants mostly consumed fruits (57.4%) followed by leaves (14.8%). The most commonly used multipurpose species based on multipurpose criteria were Cordia africana, Vemonia amygdalina and Ekebergia capensis . In this study the majority 32(28.83%) of the WSWEPs were collected from woodland followed by the forest 30 (27.03%). WSWEPs are playing a great role in assisting the livelihoods of the local community by ensuring food security and providing additional multiple uses. o facilitate official actions that promote the use of such plants as a source of vital nutrients, additional research should be done on the nutritional analyses and health relevance of WSWEPs.