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