An ethnobotanical field study focused on\u00a0traditional uses of medicinal plants, wild food plants,\u00a0and mushrooms was conducted in 37 villages in the\u00a0Gollak region of eastern Kosovo. Interviews with 66\u00a0elderly informants were conducted using standard\u00a0ethnobotanical methods. The uses of 92 vascular\u00a0plants and 6 mushrooms species belonging to 47\u00a0different families were recorded. Mainly infusions\u00a0and decoctions were quoted as folk medicinal preparations\u00a0and the most commonly quoted plant\u00a0medicinal uses referred to diseases of the respiratory\u00a0system, skin, and gastrointestinal tract. Comparison\u00a0of the collected data with the ethnobotanical findings\u00a0of previously conducted studies in the surrounding
\nWestern Balkan areas showed that, even if more than the half of Gollak\u2019s wild botanical genera quoted as medicines used are the same in Serbia and in Northern Albania, commonalities between the actual medicinal plant applications recorded in the present study and those reported for the other areas are extremely scarce. This may confirm the richness of the bio-cultural heritage of the Western Balkan region and the urgent need to conduct cross-cultural comparative field ethnobiological studies.<\/p>\n