This study analyses the effectiveness of ethnobotanic activities on learning performance of pre-service teachers about plants' classification. The research design was a quasi-experimental model. The results of the study revealed that the experimental group in which ethnobotanical activities were carried out was more successful for answers given to the interview form. On the other hand, there was no difference between the groups in multiple-choice questions. In other words, ethnobotanical practices have developed the subjective views of the students so they could have more comprehensive knowledge of the plants. These results suggest that ethnobotanic activities encourage pre-service teachers to think and talk through how to solve more open-ended problems that require making connections between analytical and practical components. This study also suggests the need to rethink how we teach botany to pre-service teachers, and how to help them learn the content better and establish more accurate conceptions of the biology content.