This study was undertaken in Jibat, Chelia and Dendi districts, Central Ethiopia, in order to investigaternthe floristic composition and vascular plant diversity of Jibat, Chilimo and Gedo forests andrnethnobotanical knowledge of medicinal and wild edible plants used by the Oromo communities in thernarea. The resulting data are expected to contribute to the conservation of the fast-eroding plant resourcesrnand the preservation of the associated ethnobotanical knowledge of the study area. Vegetation data wererncollected from a total of 457 relevÃ©s sampled preferentially using a square plot of 400 m2 (20 m x 20 m)rnfor woody plants and subplots of 2 m x 2 m at the four corners and the centr e of the large relevÃ© laid torncollect the samples of herbaceous species. Woody species with a diameter at breast height (DBH) > 2 cmrnwere counted and cover abundance values estimated. Agglomerative hierarchical classification in Rrnpackage version R 2.12.5 software, was used to identify plant communities and synoptic values â‰¥1 forrnidentification of the dominant species for naming plant communities. Shannon-Wiener diversity indexrnwas used to assess species richness and evenness. Ethnobotanical data were collected by interviewing 838rninformants (512 males and 269 females). Quantitative approaches were used to determine informantrnconsensus factor (ICF) and fidelity level (FL) values. Ethnomedicinal knowledge held by differentrninformant categories was compared using One-way ANOVA and t-tests in SPSS version 20 andrnMINITAB Release 14.3.0 statistical package. A total of 415 plant species belonging to 312 genera andrn104 families were documented from the study area of which 320, 290 and 241 were from Jibat, Gedo andrnChilimo forest stands respectively. A total of 18 plant communities were identified from the vegetationrnsurvey. Furthermore, 172 ethnomedicinal plant species belonging to 155 genera and 73 families wererndocumented that are used to treat 86 human ailments reported grouped under 13 major disease categories.rnSimilarly, 97 ethnoveterinary plant species categorized under 94 genera and 56 families reported to treatrn44 livestock ailments were documented and a total of 71 wild edible plants belonging to 58 genera and 33rnfamilies were reported to be gathered and consumed in the study area. Herbs (ca. 232) were the dominantrnplant growth forms followed by shrubs (ca.94) and trees (ca. 74) among the vascular plants documentedrnfrom the area. Asteraceae (68 species in 42 genera) and Fabaceae (26 species in 21 genera) were the mostrntaxonomically diverse families followed by Lamiaceae and Poaceae with 19 genera each and 26 speciesrnand 24 species respectively in the study area. A total of 43 endemic plants were documented in this studyrnof which one species, Kniphofia hildebrandtii is critically endangered. Leaves (36.6%) followed by rootsrn(19.98%) and seeds (10.34%) were the most consumed ethnomedicinal plant parts in remedy preparation.rnMost remedies were prepared from fresh plant materials (66.48%), mostly prepared and applied byrnboiling and drinking the decoction upon cooling (117 citations, 13.88%) followed by drinking thernconcoction (49 citation, 13.35%). Oral application (220 preparations, 59.94%) was the commonly usedrnroute of administration followed by topical or dermal application (95 preparations, 25.88%). Amoebiasis,rnconstipation and diarrhoea were the most commonly reported health problems under the gastrointestinal,rnpharyngeal and parasitic (GIPP), whereas atopic eczema and dandruff were the most frequently reported under the dermatological and subcutaneousrntissues (DST) disease group. The categories with the highest informant consensus factor (ICF) values,rnGIPP (0.70 for Dendi, 0.67 for Chelia and 0.69 for Jibat districts) followed by respiratory (0.64 forrnChelia) and DST (0.64 and 0.63 for Jibat and Dendi respectively.The highest fidelity level (FL) (95%)rnwas recorded for Hagenia abyssinica in Jibat District. Zingiber officinale and Jasminium abyssinicumrnwere reported to have highest FL values in Chelia District (95% each). In Dendi District, Zingiberrnofficinale, Bothriocline schimperi, Zehneria scabra, Clerodendrum myricoides, Ocimum lamiifolium andrnAcokanthera schimperi with FL values of 95% each, had the highest FL. In the study area, the highestrnICF value was recorded for disease categories dermatological and sensorial problems (0.80) followed byrnsepticaemic problems (0.68) and wound, external injury and animal bite (0.66) in the case ofrnethnoveterinary medicine. The reports indicate a high incidence of these types of diseases in the studyrnarea, possibly due to the poor socio-economic and sanitary conditions of the people. Preference rankingrnindicated that Lactuca inermis, Coffea arabica and Brucea antidysernterica were the most preferredrnspecies to treat diarrhea in Jibat District and Dodonaea angustifolia, Justicia schimperiana and Arisaemarnenneaphyllum were the most preferred species used against atopic eczema in Chelia and Carissarnspinarum, Acanthus sennii and Otostegia integrifolia were the most preferred species to treat rheumatismrnin Dendi. Knowledge associated with use of medicinal plants is generally kept secret and is transferredrnorally. Age, literacy level, distance from health centre and experience of informants had statisticallyrnsignificant influence on ethnobatanical knowledge of medicinal and wild edible plants (P < 0.05),rnwhereas, marital status and gender did not exert statistically significant difference (P >0.05) regardingrntheir ethnobatanical knowledge. Moraceae and Asteraceae were among the most commonly consumedrnfamilies with five and four edible taxa respectively. Women and children were the main gatherers ofrnWEPs. The majority of the useful plants were collected from wild source and storage practice wasrnminimal in the study area. The output of the direct matrix ranking revealed that Prunus africana wasrnranked first (the most threatened) followed by Hagenia abyssinica and Olinia rochetiana which arernmultipurpose species in Jibat District. Similarly, Prunus africana was ranked first (most threatened)rnfollowed by Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata and Podocarpus falcatus in Chelia District; and Juniperusrnprocera was ranked first (the most threatened) followed by Prunus africana and Hagenia abyssinica inrnDendi District are reported to be the most threatened multipurpose species. Agricultural expansion, overstocking/rngrazing and fuel wood collection were found to be the most threatening factors to plant resourcesrnin the study area. The study area is endowed with rich flora in general and medicinal and wild ediblernplants and associated knowledge in particular, yet under great pressure due to anthropogenic and naturalrnfactors. Thus, it is recommended that forestry departments of the federal, regional and local governmentsrntake strong and urgent conservation actions and strategies to safeguard these valuable resources beforernthey have gone forever. In this, each level would need to mobilize the local people to be actively involvedrnin sustainable forest resource management.rnKeywords: Medicinal Plants, Chelia, Dendi, Jibat, Wild edible plants, Informant Consensus, FidelityrnLevel