Stevia rebaudiana

Stevia rebaudiana
Stevia rebaudiana flowers
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Stevia
Species:
S. rebaudiana
Binomial name
Stevia rebaudiana

Stevia rebaudiana is a plant species in the genus Stevia of the family Asteraceae. It is commonly known as candyleaf, sweetleaf or sugarleaf.[1][2]

It is a small seasonal plant which grows to a height of 30–60 centimetres (1–2 feet).[2] It has elongated leaves that grow along the stems and are lined up against each other. The flowers are typically trimmed to improve the taste of the leaves.[3] Stevia is a tender perennial native to parts of Brazil and Paraguay having humid, wet environments.[2][3]

Stevia is widely grown for its leaves, from which extracts can be manufactured as sweetener products known generically as stevia and sold under various trade names.[4] The chemical compounds that produce its sweetness are various steviol glycosides (mainly stevioside and rebaudioside), which have 200–300 times the sweetness of sugar.[2][5] Stevia leaves contain 9.1% stevioside and 3.8% rebaudioside A.[6]

Stevia rebaudiana
  1. ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "​Stevia rebaudiana​". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d "Stevia rebaudiana". Missouri Botanical Garden. 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  3. ^ a b Petruzzello, Melissa (12 December 2017). "stevia | Description, Plant, & Sweetener". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  4. ^ Katie Jennings (3 July 2014). "Here's What The Stevia Sweetener Really Is – And Why Some People Think It Tastes Bad". Business Insider. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  5. ^ Abdullateef, Raji Akintunde; Osman, Mohamad (1 January 2012). "Studies on effects of pruning on vegetative traits in Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni (Compositae)". International Journal of Biology. 4 (1). doi:10.5539/ijb.v4n1p146.
  6. ^ Goyal, S. K.; Samsher, null; Goyal, R. K. (February 2010). "Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) a bio-sweetener: a review". International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. 61 (1): 1–10. doi:10.3109/09637480903193049. ISSN 1465-3478. PMID 19961353. S2CID 24564964.