Indigenous Biosystematics of Enset (Ensete ventricosum [Welw.] Cheesman) in its Center of Origin and Diversity, Southwest Ethiopia: Folk Nomenclature, Classification, and Descriptors

Indigenous Biosystematics of Enset ( Ensete ventricosum [Welw.] Cheesman) in its Center of Origin and Diversity, Southwest Ethiopia: Folk Nomenclature, Classification, and Descriptors. Enset (Ensete ventricosum [Welw.] Cheesman) is an important cultivated food security crop of Ethiopian origin. Southwest Ethiopia, particularly in the Sheka Zone where domesticated enset coexists with its wild relatives, provides an excellent setting to study indigenous biosystematics of enset. Thus, an ethnobotanical study was carried out to document Shekicho folk classification system of enset and analyze the indigenous system of naming, identification, and classification of enset used by farmers. Data were collected using participatory research appraisal tools from 240 enset growing households in the Sheka Zone within Southwest Ethiopia. Folk taxonomy of enset in Sheka is hierarchical and can present up to six ethnobiological taxonomic categories. Ensets (k’aasso) placed at the level of life form consisted of three folk generic taxa: k’aayo’ (cultivated enset), eec’o (wild enset), and k’aasi–aafo (semi–wild enset). Folk specific taxa (cultivated groups: atina’a–k’aayo’ and maacha–k’aayo’), varietal taxa, and sub–varieties are within the generic taxon of k’aayo’. Besides, farmers have categorization based on utility or practical values. As a result, the identified system of folk taxonomy in Sheka can be viewed as both universal and utilitarian. Farmers manage sizeable repertoires of morphological, physiological, and use-related descriptors for varieties identification and classification. A total of 28 characters with 71 character states were identified. Of these, 50% of the characters are based on direct observation of plant morphology. About 123 enset landraces were identified, of which 91 are still grown and maintained by farmers in Sheka, whereas the rest were reported verbally. The vast majority (94%) of identified names of enset varieties and sub–varieties had specific known meanings directly referencing the plant characteristics, cultural/social group name, and supposed origin, or an indirect (metaphorical) meaning. Shekicho people’s nomenclature system involves both unitary and binomial structures; the binomial names normally make the hierarchical relationship between taxa at a high level and its subordinate taxa. Furthermore, this study aspires to contribute elements of ongoing processes of domestication in clonal crops that could provide important examples of how processes could have happened in the past. In conclusion, the present information on indigenous biosystematics of enset and its subsystems of folk taxonomy, folk descriptors, and nomenclature epitomizes the rich diversity of knowledge systems in Sheka and provided context–specific and active indigenous knowledge that is highly relevant for conservation, use, and management actions. Moreover, the study has the potential for furthering our understanding of the early domestication of enset and can help to illuminate behavioral patterns driving the evolution of clonal crops like enset.