Photos of Stevia rebaudiana, Stevia, Sweetleaf.

Stevia rebaudiana, Stevia, Sweetleaf is the only one of dozens species of Stevia in the aster family that is substantially sweet. Stevia, perhaps extinct in the wild was first described by Paraguay immigrant, Moisés Santiago de Bertoni in 1899. Even then he noted its scarcity in the wild. An herbalist from northeastern Paraguay had described the plant to him. Niibbling on a tiny piece of the leaf reveals a remarkable sweet flavor. It was only in 2009 that the sweet constituents of the leaf were used as a commercial food flavoring in the United States, though long-used elswehere as a non-caloric sweetener.

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