This study aim to document ethnobotanical study on homegarden plant diversity and management practices in Wolkite town, Central Ethiopia. A total of forty informants were randomly selected from four Villages (Mariamsefere-edgetebere, Mariamsefere-addishiwote, Temketebehar-edgetebere and Temketebehar-addishiwote). Of which, 8 key informants were selected purposively by criteria of age, gender indigenous knowledge and longtime residents. Data were collected between March and April 2018 using semi-structured interviews, homegarden observation and market surveys. Preference ranking, direct matrix ranking, Shannon-weaver diversity index and Sorenson's index of similarity were used to analyze the data. A total of 63 plant species belongs to 40 families were identified, of which 26 (41.3%) were herbs, 19 (30.2%) trees, 13 (20.6%) shrubs and 5 (7.9%) climbers. The Poaceae and Solanaceae had highest number of species 5 (7.9%), followed by Fabaceae, Lamiaceae and Rutaceae with 4 (6.35 %) species each. Of the 63 species 21 (21.6 %) were food species, 16 (16.3 %) were medicinal species, 13 (13.7 %) were household species, 10 (10.2 %) were used as living fences and 9 (9.2) were ornamentals. The Shannon-weaver diversity index (H’) revealed that the highest diversity of homegarden plant species was recorded in Temketebehar-edgetbere (H'=2.93) and the lowest was recorded at Mariamsefer-addishiwote (H'=2.2). Regarding Sorenson’s coefficient analysis stated that the villages have greater overlapping of species with Sorenson’s coefficient was 0.8 and the lower overlapping existed between Temketebahar-addishiwote and Mariam sefer-edegetbere with Sorenson’s coefficient 0.6. The oral route of administration was the lion share (58.8 %) followed by dermal (35.3 %) and nasal (5.9 %). The management practices were showed that females played major role than male.

Keywords: Ethnobotany, Homegarden, plant diversity, Management, Wolkite town