Ilex guayusa
This article was based on formal or substantive deficiencies in the quality assurance biology in the section "plants" entered for improvement. This is done in order to bring the quality of the biology articles to an acceptable level. Please help improve this article! Articles that are not significantly improved can be deleted if necessary.
Read the more detailed information in the minimum requirements for biology articles .
| Ilex guayusa | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ilex guayusa |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ilex guayusa | ||||||||||||
| Loes. |
Ilex guayusa , the guayusa plant (spoken Gwhy-You-Sa in English), is a species of the holly genus( Ilex ). Guayusa is atree nativeto South America , mainly in the northwestern Amazon rainforest . Guayusa is one of several caffeinated holly species, the leaves of which are used by Quechua (Kichwa) indigenous people in the Andes, both fresh and dried, for the preparation of an infusion drink (tea).
Description and ecology
Ilex guayusa is an evergreen , richly branched tree that grows 5 to 30 meters high and can reach a trunk diameter of 50 to 100 cm. In culture, however, it becomes significantly smaller (kept).
The short-stalked, shiny and alternate leaves are up to 22 cm long and 8 cm wide. They are smooth to sparsely haired and ovate, elliptical to oblong or lanceolate. The tip is rounded or round-pointed to pointed. The leaf margins are more or less serrated or serrated. There are stipules present.
Ilex guayusa is dioecious diocesan. The four-fold, short-stalked flowers with double inflorescence are small and white. They sit on axial, short-stalked, unisexual thyrses . There are the flowers and inflorescences each bracts present. The chalice is small. The male flowers a stunted, pincushion is ovary and four to five alternipetale stamens present. The female flowers have staminodes and an upper, four- to six-chambered ovary with a sitting stigma .
The small stone fruits are spherical and green (red) and have a diameter of about 8 to 10 mm.
The first male flowers were found in 1975 in an expedition by Alberto Ortega and archived in a herbarium at the University of Central in Quito . It was previously unknown how Ilex guayusa reproduces. Because cultivated plants do not produce flowers. In 1979 another expedition took place through Harvard University, during which fresh male flowers and only one female were found, but no seeds. It is believed that Guayusa has largely lost its ability to reproduce sexually. This assumption is also due to the fact that Guayusa has been propagated as a cutting by the natives for generations .
Distribution and growing areas
Ilex guayusa grows naturally in the upper Amazon regions in the Brazilian state of Acre , in southwestern Colombia , Ecuador and northeastern Peru at altitudes of 200 to 2000 meters. It occurs in evergreen or deciduous, premontane forests, especially in those dominated by Dictyocaryum palm trees. Guayusa was rarely collected in the wild by botanists and is known almost exclusively as a cultivated plant, especially from the Ecuadorian provinces of Napo and Pastaza . Commercial cultivation takes place in the Peruvian province of Loreto .
Taxonomy
Ilex guayusa was born in Nova Acta Acad by Ludwig Eduard Theodor Loesener . Caes. Leop.-Carol. German. Nat. Cur. 78: 310, first described in 1901 .
Cultivation and cultivation
Guayusa is traditionally grown in so-called "Chacra" in the Amazon rainforest. Chacra are forest gardens that resemble a permaculture due to their botanical biodiversity. In addition to Guayusa z. B. cocoa, corn, cassava , bananas and various medicinal herbs are cultivated. The plants are combined in one area in such a way that the use of fungicides , insecticides and herbicides is not needed.
In the first 1 to 3 years after planting, guayusa needs shade. Guayusa can therefore not be cultivated in monocultures, as the solar radiation would not allow optimal development.
Is increasingly Ilex guayusa exclusively by clones. For this purpose, young shoots are taken from older plants and planted as cuttings. The planted shoot forms new roots after a few weeks and begins to form new leaves again after an initial phase of stagnation.
ingredients
The dried leaves of Ilex guayusa contain up to 7.6% caffeine , on average about 1.7–2%. This very high concentration is the highest known in plants. Caffeine works against drowsiness and stimulates the central nervous system. In addition to caffeine, they contain L-theanine , theobromine , phenols and flavonoids , as well as many amino acids in smaller amounts and the like. a. High ORAC values were also determined and antibacterial and parasitic effects were found.
use
Guayusa as an infusion drink
- Traditional cultivation and cultivation: Many Kichwa Indians drink guayusa almost every day. For this purpose, fresh guayusa leaves are usually cooked in a cauldron on an open fire in the morning. People drink from a flat calabash . In the group all members of a family or a tribe talk about their dreams and the upcoming tasks of the day. Guayusa is traditionally used for various purposes, such as: B. against headaches.
- USA and Europe: In this country and also in the USA, Guayusa is mainly used as a waking drink. The dried leaves are either sold in one piece or crushed as loose tea, tea bags or in a coffee pod.
Guayusa as a ready-made drink
There are various start-up companies around the world that have brought Guayusa soft drinks onto the market. These are advertised either as energy drinks (with the corresponding legally prescribed sugar content), as energy tea or as iced tea.
Etymology and history
The oldest guayusa leaves were found in the grave of a medicine man in Bolivia . Their age is dated to 500 AD. This find is considered interesting because Ilex guayusa is said to have originated in Ecuador. The spread of Guayusa took place in South America as early as 500 AD. The equipment in the medicine man's grave also suggests that guayusa was not only drunk at that time, but also snorted. There are reports that the plant was used as an anesthetic as early as 700 AD.
In 1683 the Jesuit Juan Lorenzo Lucero reported to the Viceroy of Peru Melchor de Navarra y Rocafull that the Shuar Ilex guayusa brewed together with other herbs and tobacco for a drink and used it for ritual purposes.
It is also known from the indigenous peoples that guayusa is drunk in high doses before ceremonies as a cleansing and strengthening function. For malaria , syphilis , abdominal and liver pain, Guayusa is used by the indigenous people as well as for menstrual cramps and against hunger.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Melvin Shemluck: The Flowers of Ilex guayusa. In: Botanical Museum Leaflets. Vol. 27, No. 5/6, 1979, pp. 155-160, JSTOR 41762819 , archive.org .
- ^ A b c Juan F. Dueñas, Christopher Jarrett, Ian Cummins, Eliot Logan-Hines: Amazonian Guayusa (Ilex guayusa Loes.): A Historical and Ethnobotanical Overview . In: Economic Botany . tape 70 , no. 1 , 2016, ISSN 0013-0001 , p. 85-91 , doi : 10.1007 / s12231-016-9334-2 .
- ↑ a b P.-A. Loizeau, G. Barriera: Ilex guayusa at Aquifoliaceae néotropicales: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, et Recherche d'Information. Version: 1st March 2007, Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève, accessed on October 12, 2018.
- ↑ a b c d e f L. G. Sequeda-Castañeda, G. Modesti Costa, C. Celis et al .: Ilex guayusa (Aquifoliaceae): Amazon and Andean Native Plant. In: Pharmacologyonline. 3 (1), 2016, pp. 93-202, online at researchgate.net, accessed on October 12, 2018.
- ^ Ilex guayusa in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
- ^ Ilex guayusa at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ online at biodiversitylibrary.org, accessed October 13, 2018.
- ↑ a b V. Scherrer: Guayusa. How and with what consequences is a traditional cultivated plant marketed in Ecuador? Master's thesis, Institute of Geography Zurich, 2016. GRIN, 2016, ISBN 978-3-668-21180-3 .
- ^ K. Kubitzki , JW Kadereit : The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Vol. XIV, Springer, 2016, ISBN 978-3-319-28532-0 , p. 33.
- ^ A b Ch. Rätsch: The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications . Simon and Schuster, 2005, ISBN 978-1-59477-662-5 .
- ^ Graham Wise: Substantial Equivalence Application For The Approval of Guayusa Leaf Tea (Ilex Guayusa LOES.) For Use As A Dry Leaf Infusion. ACNFP - Food Standards Agency, 2017, online (PDF), at ACNFP, accessed October 13, 2018.
- ↑ Matteo Radice, Neyfe Cossio, Laura Scalvenzi: Ilex guayusa: A systematic review of its Traditional Uses, Chemical Constituents, Biological Activities and Biotrade Opportunities. In: Mol2Net. 2, Section M, 2016, doi: 10.3390 / mol2net-02-03868 , online at researchegate.net, accessed October 13, 2018.
- ↑ Almudena García-Ruiz, Nieves Baenas, Ana M. Benítez-González et al .: Guayusa (Ilex guayusa L.) new tea: phenolic and carotenoid composition and antioxidant capacity . In: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture . tape 97 , no. 12 , 2017, p. 3929-3936 , doi : 10.1002 / jsfa.8255 .
- ^ Richard Evans Schultes: Antiquity of the Use of New World Hallucinogens . In: The Heffter Review of Psychedelic Research . Vol. 1. Heffter Research Institute, 1998 ( heffter.org [PDF; accessed October 12, 2018]).