ChuchuhuasiMaytenus macrocarpa

Did you know?

• "Chuchuhuasi" is a shared name. Several related Amazonian trees go by it, which is why product labels name different species^[1].

• Botanists once gave the tree a scientific name borrowed from the local one, Maytenus chuchuhuasha. It is now listed as a synonym^{[1, 2]}.

• In a recent revision, many tropical American Maytenus species were moved to a revived genus, Monteverdia, so some newer references call chuchuhuasi Monteverdia macrocarpa^{[1, 3]}.

• Plant specialists in the Peruvian Amazon include chuchuhuasi in the traditional plant diet, a strict retreat of very simple food that can last several weeks^{[1, 7]}.

• Chuchuhuasi belongs to the same family as the ornamental bittersweet vines and spindle trees (Euonymus) of northern gardens^[8].

• Chuchuhuasi liqueur, made by steeping the dried bark in local cane spirit with honey, is listed in Slow Food's Ark of Taste^[6].

Origins and history

Chuchuhuasi is a tree of the wet lowland forests of the western Amazon^{[1, 2]}. It entered the scientific record through Hipólito Ruiz and José Pavón, whose Flora Peruviana et Chilensis recorded the plants they collected in Peru and Chile, and who named it Celastrus macrocarpus^{[2, 4, 11]}. It was later moved to the genus Maytenus, the name Kew's Plants of the World Online still accepts^{[1, 2]}.

The name travels more freely than the botany. In Peru, chuchuhuasi and spellings such as chuchuhuasha are used for more than one closely related tree^[1]. Raintree's label names Maytenus krukovii. Kew's Plants of the World Online counts that as the same species as M. macrocarpa, while other databases keep it separate, as Monteverdia krukovii^{[2, 3]}. Some Raintree products list M. laevis, a separate Amazonian species of the same genus^{[2, 3]}.

Two preparations dominate. The stem bark, often with the root, is either simmered in water as a decoction or shredded and left to soak in local sugarcane rum^[1]. Both are still the everyday ways the bark is used in the Peruvian Amazon^[1]. In the Amazonian regions of Loreto, San Martín and Ucayali, the soaked bark becomes a drink in its own right: the dried bark is steeped in aguardiente with honey for at least eight days, often a month, to make a dark, strong liqueur that is seldom found outside the area where it is made^[6].

Traditional uses

Clinical studies of chuchuhuasi in people are still few^[1], but its traditional use in the Peruvian Amazon is rich and remarkably consistent: it is the bark people turn to for the back, the muscles and general strength.

• Bark in rum or water

  The classic preparations are a decoction of the bark and root, or shredded bark soaked in local sugarcane rum.^{[1, 6]}

• Back and muscle comfort

  Chuchuhuasi's best-known traditional role is for the back and muscles. It supports back and muscle comfort after exertion.*^{[1, 5]}

• Joint comfort

  Its most popular traditional use in Peru centers on the joints, and it supports joint comfort.*^{[1, 6]}

• Energy and vitality

  Taken as a general tonic for strength and vigor, it supports energy and vitality.* In the same tonic tradition it is taken to support a healthy libido.*^{[1, 5, 6]}

Plant compounds

Chuchuhuasi is chemically rich: a 2019 review listed 45 compounds isolated from M. macrocarpa alone, mainly triterpenes and dihydro-β-agarofuran sesquiterpenes^[1]. The triterpenes include friedelane-type compounds such as friedelin, isolated from exudates of the stem bark^[9], and pristimerin, along with lupeol and dammarane-type triterpenes^[1]. The sesquiterpenes occur as complex polyol esters and have been isolated from the leaves^{[1, 10]}.