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Plants & People: The Intersection of Botany and Human Experience

From medicine to industry: the multifaceted history of Guaraná (Paullinia cupana Kunth., Sapindaceae)

Paullinia Cupana, nature’s caffeine tablet, has a very deep history within native Americans that resided in South America. Known by locals as guarana, “drink of the Lord”, it has a very easily recognizable eye ball like structure, with a large black seed surrounded by bright red fruit. The seed contain an extremely high concentration of caffeine and tanin, four times the amount found in coffee beans. It was commonly used by the Satere Maue people to make beverages and used as medicine for bodily discomfort as far back as over 2000 years ago. Nowadays, despite its popularity, the only country that cultivates guarana is Brazil, with over 15,000 hectares of land growing guarana. It is such an important crop for the people of Brazil, parts of the Amazon was cut down in order to make room to grow guarana. In 2006, the cash value of domestic production of guarana is over 13 billion, and it has only been increasing due to the growing domestic and international demand. Due to it’s high caffeine content within the seed, it is very widely used nowadays to be included in energy drinks. One extremely popular soda called Guarana Antarctica is the biggest competitor of Coca Cola in Brazil. By Tim Sisneros and Edward Teng #Guarana #Paullinia

Nomenclature history
1810 was the first time a European naturalist observed guarana in Venezuela after hearing about such plants from missionaries. Later, it was described in detail and classified by Knuth as Paullinia cupana. It was proposed to have originated along the Orinoco river on the borders of Brazil, Columbia and Venezuela. Later in 1800s, Martius collected similar samples along the Amazon River and named them Paullinia sorbilis. The two plants looked extremely similar to biologist at that time, thus they were considered synonyms in a publication in 1897, and the earlier term Paullinia cupana was kept. Nowadays though, the Paullinia sorbilis is now known as Paullinia cupana Knute var. sorbilis due to some small morphological differences between the two plants. The common name of guarana originated from the Tupi Indian language spoken by the Satere Maue people, who were believed to be the ones to first domesticate guarana, and the word guarana means drink of the Lords (A).

Evolutionary history
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Ecology and life history
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Morphology
Guaraná (Paullinia cupana Kunth.) is a lowland, tropical, woody, climbing shrub that is found throughout the Amazon but is most commonly found in Brazil. There are 4-5 deep grooves in the main stem/different branches. The epidermis is dark green and is woody near the base. The guarana leaves are distichously arranged, pinnately compound with 5 leaflets, and can measure up to 40 cm in length at maturity. The flowers are partially single-sexed with some staminate flowers, while the others are hermaphroditic, it is bright red in color with a black colored seed in the middle partially covered by white arils. The contrasting colors of the partially dehisced fruit resemble eyeballs, which gave rise to a legend by the Satere Maue tribe in Brazil. The myth states that a malevolent god lured a male child into the forest and killed them out of jealousy. When the people in the village found the child, a benevolent god then gifted the Satere Maue guarana by planting the child's left eye in the village which birth the first. The seeds were traditionally toasted and ground into powder. The resulting powder was then dissolved into water alone or in combination with other herbs. (Storiies)
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History
Guarana was first reported in 1669 by Bettendorf, a high ranking Jesuit of the Company of Jesus, in Maranhao, and noted that the plant was used extensively by Satere Maue people. In 1900s, naturalist observed teh same thing, and proposed that the Satere Maue people arrived around the Maue and Andiras River 2000 years ago, and the domestication of guarana plant likely started after their arrival. Another theory by Ducke stated that guarana cultivation originated on the upper Rio Negro and upper Orinoco and was brought into the region where the Satere Maue lived (A, B).

Cultivation practices
Currently, Brazil is the largest and only producer of guarana in the world with 15,356 hectares of land planted with guarana, producing 2698 metric tons of dry seeds and a productivity of 229 kg/ha. The cash value of domestic production is over 13 billion in 2006. With the domestic demand and international demand increasing, more land in Brazil has been cleared for the cultivation of guarana. (A)

Human experiences and nutritional value
The Satere Maue people had a wide use of the guarana plant. They normally would crush the guarana seed and use it as a beverage and an herb to treat diarrhea, arthritis, and deal with fatigue and hunger. (A) Currently, Guarana soda is very popular in Brazil, equally popular as Coca Cola in Brazil, and it is made from powder made from guarana seeds. Guarana seeds are the most commonly consumed part of the plant due to its high tannin and caffeine content, four times as much as coffee beans. And it is often ground up into power, and made into a beverage. (B)

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25. From medicine to industry: the multifaceted history of Guaraná (Paullinia cupana Kunth., Sapindaceae) Paullinia Cupana, nature’s caffeine tablet, has a very deep history within native Americans that resided in South America. Known by locals as guarana, “drink of the Lord”, it has a very easily recognizable eye ball like structure, with a large black seed surrounded by bright red fruit. The seed contain an extremely high concentration of caffeine and tanin, four times the amount found in coffee beans. It was commonly used by the Satere Maue people to make beverages and used as medicine for bodily discomfort as far back as over 2000 years ago. Nowadays, despite its popularity, the only country that cultivates guarana is Brazil, with over 15,000 hectares of land growing guarana. It is such an important crop for the people of Brazil, parts of the Amazon was cut down in order to make room to grow guarana. In 2006, the cash value of domestic production of guarana is over 13 billion, and it has only been increasing due to the growing domestic and international demand. Due to it’s high caffeine content within the seed, it is very widely used nowadays to be included in energy drinks. One extremely popular soda called Guarana Antarctica is the biggest competitor of Coca Cola in Brazil. By Tim Sisneros and Edward Teng #Guarana #Paullinia
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