assessing the status of traditional medicinal knowledge and its association with phytochemical and pharmacological discovery

The kolli hills of the eastern ghats, india, represent a critical reservoir of medicinal flora and associated traditional ecological knowledge (tek) held by the malayali tribes. this repository of ethnomedicinal information is a vital resource for phytochemical and pharmacological discovery. this study was designed to conduct a systematic inventory of medicinal plants and quantitatively evaluate the retention of practical therapeutic knowledge across generations. a comprehensive survey documented 201 distinct medicinal plant species from 81 families, with fabaceae, malvaceae, rubiaceae, and rutaceae being the most represented—families renowned for their rich profiles of secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids. to quantitatively assess knowledge transfer, a structured survey was administered to two cohorts: elders (>50 years) and youth (~25 years), focusing on 30 pre-identified, commonly used medicinal plants. statistical analysis revealed a significant generational decline (p < 0.0001 for most species), with mean knowledge retention dropping from 74.38% in the elder cohort to 51.00% in the youth cohort. spatial analysis further identified significant disparities (p < 0.0001) across fourteen panchayats. knowledge was best preserved in geographically isolated panchayats like alathurnadu and gundaninadu (>85% elder knowledge), while panchayats with better infrastructure, such as ariyurnadu and valappurnadu, showed critical erosion (<65% elder knowledge; <45% youth knowledge). the precipitous loss of this specialized knowledge necessitates immediate intervention.  the systematic documentation of this tek into the people's biodiversity register is proposed, framing it as an essential strategy for safeguarding a living library for future bioprospecting, drug discovery, and the development of climate-resilient therapeutic agents.