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Stevia rebaudiana

Common name:	Stevia	Family:	Compositae
Author:	Bertoni.	Botanical references:	200
Synonyms:	Eupatorium rebaudianum
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	S. America - Brazil, Paraguay.
Habitat:	Not known
Edibility Rating (1-5):	4	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Eupatorium rebaudiana[H]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Candyleaf [P], Stevia [H], Sugar Plant Of South Amer [H], Sweet Herb [H], Sweet Herb Of Paraguay [H],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Asterales. Renamed to Asteraceae -- Aster family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Paraguay

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.5m. It is hardy to zone 9 and is frost tender. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. We rate it 4/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds, By Walls, By South Wall, By West Wall.

Edible Uses

Leaves Sweetener.

Leaves - raw or cooked. A very sweet liquorice-like flavour[K]. The leaves contain 'stevioside', a substance that is 300 times sweeter than sucrose[183]. Other reports say that they contain 'estevin' a substance that, weight for weight, is 150 times sweeter than sugar[4, 46, 61, 105]. The dried leaves can be ground and used as a sweetener or soaked in water and the liquid used in making preserves[183]. The powdered leaves are also added to herb teas[183]. The leaves are sometimes chewed by those wishing to reduce their sugar intake[183]. The leaves can also be cooked and eaten as a vegetable[105, 177].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Prefers a sandy soil, requiring a warm sunny position[200].
Plants are not very frost resistant, but can be grown as half-hardy annuals in Britain, starting them off in a greenhouse and planting them out after the last expected frosts.

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a warm greenhouse and only just cover the seed. Make sure the compost does not dry out. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots and grow them on fast, planting them out after the last expected frosts. It could be worthwhile giving them some protection such as a cloche or cold frame for a few weeks after planting them out until they are growing away well.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

PFAF Web Pages

This plant is mentioned in the following web pages

PFAF Database Search: Canned Queries

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database
[R] Rainforest medicinal Data (common names, medicinal uses, images) from the Rain-Tree.

References for Eupatorium rebaudiana (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database

References for stevia rebaudiana (a possible synonym).

[HP] PhotoFrom Henriette's plant pictures
[HP] PhotoFrom Henriette's plant pictures

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Stevia+rebaudiana
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Stevia+rebaudiana

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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.