Woldu, Zerihun (Professor)Demissew, Sebsebe (Professor)Shumbahri, Mohammed2018-07-062023-11-092018-07-062023-11-092012-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/7028This study was focussed on the floristic composition of woody plants and ethnobotanical importance of legumes in Laelay and Tahtay Maichew, central zone, Tigray. To study woody plants study sites were selected via preferential sampling in protected, mountains and degraded watershades following survey. At the end of the day, sixty (60) plots were laid down. Interviews were conducted with informants and field observations were made to collect Ethnobotanical data. Statistical tools like hierarchial cluster analysis and Shannon-Wiener diversity index were used for vegetation data analysis. Preferential ranking was also applied for Ethnobotanical data analysis. As a result 57 woody species and 8 herbaceous legumes were identified. The most species rich family was Fabaceae with 13 species. The result of cluster analysis show that, five community types with distinct species number and the community types found in protected areas have more species than unprotected ones. The prefertial ranking for ethnobotanical study of legumes show that, widely used plants for food and farm implements are Ziziphus spina-christi and Acacia lahai respectivelly. The traditional medicinal knowledge is acquired more from parents in the area. The major threats of woody plants are cutting, continuous cultivation and overgrazing Woody. Meanwhile plantations are the main conservation practices applied in the areas to conserve and facilitate regeneration of woody plants. KEY WORDS and PHARASES: Woody plants, cluster analysis, Ethnobotany, legumes, plantationenWoody plantscluster analysisEthnobotanylegumesplantationThesis