BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 



HARVARD UNIVERSITY 



CAMBRIIHiF, MASSACHLIStnS WlMER 1983 Voi . 29, No I 



ETHNOBOTANICAL NOTES ON STEVIA » 



Djaja D. Soejarto-^ Cesar M. Compadre- 



AND A. Douglas Kinghorn- 



Stevia is an entirely New World genus of herbs and shrubs 

 belonging to the Compositae. Its distribution range extends 

 from the southern United States to northern Argentina, with 

 particular concentration along the Andean mountains. A taxo- 

 nomic revision of the North American members of the genus 

 was recently completed (Grashoff, 1972), but the South Ameri- 

 can members remain to be studied systematically. According to 

 Grashoffs revision, 81 species occur in the Americas north of 

 the Colombo-Panamanian border, of which 70 species are found 

 in Mexico alone. Based on the scattered taxonomic treatments 

 of members of this genus in the past, in particular those of 

 Robinson (1930a-c, 1931a-c, 1932a-b), an estimate of 120 species 

 for the South American Stevia may be given. 



One member of the genus, Stevia Rebaudiana (Bertoni) Ber- 

 toni, possesses a characteristic sweet taste in its leaves, and 

 apparently has been used as a sweetening agent since antiquity 



'Contribution no. 2 of the Program for Collaborative Research in Pharmaceutical 

 Sciences. College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago. 



-Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, Uni- 

 iity of Illinois at Chicago, 833 S. Wood St., Chicago, Illinois 60612. 



^Research Associate, Field Museum of Natural History (Botany), Roosevelt Rd. at Lake 

 Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. 



Botanical Museum l,eaMcls (ISSN 0006 8098). Published quarterly by the Botanical Museum. 

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Published April 29, 1983 



