World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

ETHNOBOTANICAL SURVEY OF WILD EDIBLE TREES AND SHRUBS OF CENTRAL TIGRAI, NORTHERN ETHIOPIA

Awash Tesfay*

ABSTRACT

Wild edible trees and shrubs play an important contribution to food and traditional medicine. Many valuable wild edible plants are familiar to certain areas or to certain communities but are unknown to others. So, this research is done with the objective to study the type of valuable wild edible trees and shrubs in the study area. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 173 respondents. In addition, focus group discussion was also held with 40 key informants. Ethnobotanical data were collected in the presence of local administrators. A total of 22 wild edible trees and shrubs belonging to 14 families were recorded. Moraceae families were the dominant families in the area. The majority (63.6%) of Wild edible trees were found in natural forests followed by riparian forests (27.3%). All of the wild edible tree species (100%) recorded in this study were eaten their raw fruit part. of the total wild edible trees and shrubs recorded, 18.2% were used for medicinal purposes, and 32% were used for construction. Even though the income contribution of the wild edible trees is not comparable to the income of annual crops, an important contribution can be obtained from the wild edible trees especially in the dry season. Overgrazing and agricultural expansions are critical factors for threatening wild and semi-wild plants. High conservational demand of the most endangered wild edible tree species like Syzigium guineense, Tamarindus indica, Ximenia americana, Ficus vasta, Ficus sycomorus, Mimusops kummel, and Diospyros mespliformis is important.

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