Europe PMC · 2026-04-07
A study tracking 300+ years of Jamaican plant medicine finds that most traditional herbal knowledge is newly emerging, not ancient — 68% of contemporary uses have no historical record, while respiratory and digestive remedies show strong continuity. This challenges the idea that traditional knowledge is purely inherited, showing it actively evolves to address modern health problems like diabetes and mental illness.
68% of contemporary medicinal plant uses (426 of 626 use-reports) had no historical precedent, indicating active emergence of new traditional knowledge rather than simple inheritance.
Only 23% of use-reports showed persistence across both historical and contemporary periods, with respiratory, gastrointestinal, and tonic categories showing the strongest continuity.
Decline was rare at just 9%, and was concentrated in uses tied to specific infectious diseases, while diabetes and mental health emerged as prominent contemporary categories with little historical parallel.