CatuabaErythroxylum catuaba

Did you know?

• "Catuaba" is a name, not a single species. At least nine different plants, from five plant families, are called catuaba in Brazil^[6].

• Anemopaegma arvense is known in Brazil as catuaba-verdadeira, "true catuaba", even though it is a different plant from the catuaba most often sold^{[1, 5, 6]}.

• Trichilia catigua belongs to the mahogany family, alongside the true mahoganies and the neem tree^{[4, 8]}.

• Catuaba has compounds named after it: the catuabines, a group of alkaloids found in bark sold as catuaba^[7].

• In Brazil the most common preparation is the garrafada, bark left to soak in a bottle of strong spirits^{[2, 3]}.

• Trichilia catigua was described in 1829 in Auguste de Saint-Hilaire's flora of southern Brazil^{[4, 5]}.

Origins and history

Catuaba is a Brazilian name, and it has always covered more than one tree^{[1, 6]}. The catuaba most often sold today is Trichilia catigua, a small, shrubby tree, usually 3 to 6 meters tall, of the seasonally dry forests of Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and northeastern Argentina^{[3, 4, 9]}. It entered the scientific record in 1829, when it was published in Auguste de Saint-Hilaire's Flora Brasiliae Meridionalis, a flora of southern Brazil^{[4, 5]}. In Brazil it is also called catiguá, cataguá, tatuaba and angelim-rosa^{[2, 5]}. Its bark yields a pale red dye, and its wood has been used for making bows^[9].

The name on our label, Erythroxylum catuaba, comes from a 1904 Brazilian study of catuaba bark. It was published only once, and botanists no longer recognize it as a separate species^{[4, 5]}. Other barks sold as catuaba come from Erythroxylum vacciniifolium and from Anemopaegma species of the Bignoniaceae family^{[5, 6]}. Because so many trees share the name, researchers have looked closely at what catuaba products contain. When 14 commercial samples were examined in 2004, most contained the bark of Trichilia catigua, which is still the bark most products use^{[1, 2]}.

In Brazil the bark is most often left to soak in a bottle of strong spirits, a preparation Brazilians call a garrafada^{[2, 3]}. Taken in small amounts, the bark has long been valued as a bitter tonic^[9]. Catuaba was also included in the first edition of Brazil's official pharmacopoeia^[6].

Traditional uses

Clinical studies of catuaba in people are still few, but its traditional use in Brazil is long and consistent: it is the bark people turn to for strength and vigor.

• Bark in spirits

  Shredded bark is soaked in strong spirits for a garrafada, and the bark is also taken as a bitter tonic.^{[2, 3, 9]}

• Energy and vitality

  Catuaba is a traditional Brazilian tonic for times when people feel run down. It supports energy and vitality.*^{[2, 3, 9]}

• Everyday stress

  The same tonic tradition covers the strains of daily life. Catuaba supports the body's response to everyday stress.*^{[2, 3]}

• Healthy libido

  Catuaba's best-known role in Brazil is as a tonic for intimacy. It supports healthy libido.*^{[1, 3]}

Plant compounds

Trichilia catigua bark is rich in polyphenols. These include flavan-3-ols such as epicatechin, catechin and procyanidin B2; flavalignans called cinchonains (Ia, Ib, IIa and IIb); and chlorogenic acid, a phenolic acid^{[2, 3]}. The Erythroxylum barks sold as catuaba contain a different group of plant compounds, alkaloids named after the plant: the catuabines^[7].