Pueraria mirifica

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Pueraria mirifica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Faboideae
Genus:	Pueraria
Species:	P. mirifica
Binomial name
Pueraria mirifica Airy Shaw & Suvatab.
Synonyms
Pueraria candollei var. mirifica (Airy Shaw & Suvat.) Niyomdham

Pueraria mirifica, also known as กวาวเครือ Kwao Krua (among other names), is a plant found in northern and north eastern Thailand and Myanmar.

In Thailand, the plant is known as “Kwao Krua Kao”, the 'Kao' meaning white which distinguishes Pueraria mirifica from other plants with tuberous roots also sharing the 'Kwao Krua' designation such as Butea superba, commonly called Kwao Krua Deng (Red) and the 'black' and 'dull grey' Kwao Krua plants. The species was definitively identified as Pueraria mirifica in 1952.

Dried and powdered, the tuberous root of Pueraria mirifica has a history of domestic consumption in Thailand in traditional folk medicine as a rejuvenating herb to promote youthfulness in both women and men and is used widely within the now government-regulated practice of traditional Thai medicine.^[1]