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• The Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC) for wild edible plant parts in the Shabelle Zone is 0.91 for fruits, 0.77 for tubers, 0.67 for roots, 0.53 for leaves, 0.44 for resin, and 0.35 for stems.
• Roots and tubers, which require peeling and cooking, account for 17.5% of observations regarding the preparation and consumption of wild edible plants in the Shabelle Zone.
• In the Shabelle Zone, Eastern Ethiopia, fruits are the most commonly consumed parts of wild edible plants, while roots, tubers, leaves, stems, and resins are primarily used during periods of food scarcity.
• Roots are utilized as a food source in species including Senna sanguinea, Ipomoea volkensii, Cissus spiculata, and Euclea grandis, while tubers are utilized in species including Ekebergia dammanniana, Cyperus esculentus, and Cyperus exaltatus.
• Minor edible plant parts utilized by the local population include tubers (2.83%), bulbs (1.89%), epicarp (1.89%), additional seeds (1.89%), nuts (0.94%), and roots (0.94%).
• Streptococcus bacteria found in the mouths of Neandertals and modern humans consume sugars from starchy foods, including roots, seeds, and tubers.
• Tubers and roots in the Shabelle Zone, each represented by 5 species, exhibit a very high Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) of 0.95, indicating strong agreement on their use.
• In the Shabelle Zone, local communities utilize specific harvesting methods for wild edible plants: plucking is used for leaves, stems, or resins (e.g., A. dubius, A. reficiens, C. myrrha, B. ogadensis, C. olitorius, M. stenopetala), while digging is used for underground parts like tubers and roots (e.g., I. rotundifolia, S. sanguinea, I. volkensii, E. nutans, C. spiculata, E. grandis, C. exaltatus).
• The GDR Score categorizes diet quality by assigning positive scores to the consumption of dark-green leafy vegetables, vitamin A-rich orange-colored vegetables, roots, tubers, other vegetables, vitamin A-rich fruits, citrus fruits, other fruits (including red/purple/blue fruits), legumes, nuts/seeds, and whole grains.
• In the Shabelle Zone, six categories of wild edible plant parts are consumed: fruits (66.6% of species), tubers (8.7%), roots (8.7%), leaves (8.7%), resin (5.2%), and stems (1.7%).
• Consumption patterns for wild edible plants in the Shabelle Zone vary by part: fruits and resin are predominantly eaten raw, while roots, tubers, and leaves are generally cooked or mixed with other foods prior to consumption.
• The ethnobotanical survey in Tungareshwar Devrai recorded 30 plant species belonging to 25 families, including 12 species consumed as leafy vegetables, 13 species used as fruits or seeds, two edible tubers, two roots, and seven species of flowers used as vegetables.