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Article History

Received: 25 January 2026

Accepted: 4 May 2026

First Online: 16 May 2026

Declarations

:

: This study was approved by the Department of Plant Biology and Biodiversity Management, Addis Ababa University. Additional permissions were obtained from the Armauer Hansen Research Institute and the Habru District Administration. Prior to any data collection, oral informed consent was obtained from all participants. The decision to use oral consent was based on the local context, where a significant proportion of informants were non-literate and oral traditions are the primary mode of information exchange. Written consent would have created barriers to participation and was deemed culturally inappropriate. The consent process was conducted in the local language (Amharic) as follows: each potential informant was informed about (1) the purpose of the research, (2) the voluntary nature of their participation, (3) their right to withdraw at any time without consequence, (4) how the information would be used (academic publication and archiving at the National Herbarium), and (5) measures taken to ensure confidentiality (anonymization of personal identifiers in all records). After this explanation, informants were asked whether they agreed to participate. Verbal agreement was documented in field notebooks, with each informant’s consent recorded by date and the interviewer’s initials. For key informants and focus group discussion participants, additional verbal consent was obtained before each session. All informants were assured that their participation was voluntary and that declining to participate would not affect their standing in the community or their access to any services. The research adhered to the ethical guidelines for ethnobiological research, including the International Society of Ethnobiology Code of Ethics (2010) and the principles outlined by the American Anthropological Association.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.