STEVIA PLANT

Id card :

Crossing : Spermatophyta (which produces seeds)
Under-crossing : Angiosperms (plant with flowers)
Class : Dicotyledon (seed contains two embryonic leaves)
Order : Asterales (oligosaccharide inulin as nutrients storage, stamens usually aggregated densely, secondary pollination)
Family : Asterceae (star-shaped flower head, ex: the daisy)
Genre : Stevia (south american herbs and shrubs)
Species : Rebaudiana

Stevia Rebaudiana (Bert.) Bertoni

The genre Stevia is very wide-spread in South America; we indeed count more than 220 sorts under this classification. Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni is a particular sort of the genre Stevia. The place where we count it most (approximately 120 different sorts) is situated in the triangle formed by Peru and Bolivia, the South of Brazil and Paraguay, and the north of Argentina.

The genre Stevia pulls its name of the botanist Peter James Esteve, the Spanish professor of botany who died in 1566.

The common features of the genre Stevia are the following ones:
- herbaceous multiannual, or more rarely small bushes either shrubs,
- they are on little sloping grassy plains, in valleys formed by rivers, in, either in the border, the little dense forests,
- they present small white flowers either purple - rose according to the sorts,
- a rather strong smell gets free when leaves are crushed; we also note that leaves are slightly sticky when they are crushed in the hand,
- when we chew a leaf of stevia, we shall feel either a certain sweetness, or a certain bitterness according to the enjoyed sort.

The botanical research on the genre Stevia indicates that only Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni possesses the sweetness which made it famous. It is reported that the leaves of Stevia phlebophylla, Mexican origin, would also have had a sweet taste, but this sort went out.

This genre Stevia belongs to the botanical family of Compositae (also called Asteraceae), in the same way as the marguerite, the dandelion, the chrysanthemum or the chicory.

The size of Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni's plantation is situated near 60 in 80 cms with maturity. We often find it to the wild state by grouping from 2 to 3 plantations.

The trunk or the main stalk, the secondary branches or the ramifications, and leaves are covered with a fine white down.
The trunk produces multiple lateral ramifications what makes it a rather dense plant in foliage. The main stalk is rather knotty and sometimes takes unexpected forms.

Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni is a perannual herb if the wintry conditions are sweet (a minimal temperature of 5°C is required to obtain a shoot next year). The life expectancy generally observed by stevia is 6 seasons. This life expectancy can be prolonged as one pleases by cuttings notably. If the wintry conditions are too difficult and if the plant is not protected, stevia becomes an annual. If you have the possibility of placing your plantations into a greenhouse or into a dry and luminous place, you will see your plantation of stevia grow again year after year.

Feuille de Stévia