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BACKGROUND: Ethiopia encompasses an extraordinary number of ecological zones and plant diversity. However, the diversity of plants is highly threatened due to lack of institutional capacity, population pressure, land degradation and deforestation. An adequate documentation of these plants also has not been conducted. The farmers in Ethiopia face serious and growing food insecurity caused by drought, land degradation and climate change. Thus, rural communities are dependent on underutilized wild edible plants to meet their food and nutritional needs. Hence, this study was conducted to examine the distribution, diversity, role, management condition and associated traditional knowledge of underutilized wild edible plants with a focus on woody plants in the Chilga District, northwestern Ethiopia. METHODS: A questionnaire survey, semi-structured interviews, preference and direct matrix rankings, a market survey and focused group discussion methods were employed for data collection. Data were collected from 96 respondents. A plant inventory was also conducted on 144 quadrates in two agroecologies and in three uses. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods were used. Statistical Analysis System (SAS) version 9.0 was used for statistical analysis. Analysis of Variance (P
