Clavo HuascaTynanthus panurensis

Did you know?

• Clavo means both "nail" and "clove" in Spanish. The spice itself was named for its nail-like shape, from the Latin clavus, "nail"^{[9, 11]}.

• Huasca comes from the Quechua waskha, "rope", a fitting word for a vine^{[9, 10]}.

• In Brazil, Tynanthus vines are called cipó-cravo, "clove vine", and a clove scent is one of the features botanists use to recognize the genus^{[3, 4, 5]}.

• Eugenol, the compound behind the vine's scent, is a major component of clove oil and has an odor of cloves all by itself^{[12, 14]}.

• Clavo huasca belongs to the same plant family as the jacaranda tree, the catalpa and the trumpet creeper^{[2, 13]}.

• Cut one of its vines across and you may see a cross. Clavo huasca belongs to the Bignonieae, a tribe of climbing vines whose stems grow wedges of inner bark into the wood from four evenly spaced points^{[3, 15, 16]}. A North American relative, the crossvine, is named for the pattern^[17].

Origins and history

Clavo huasca is a liana: a woody vine that roots in the forest floor and climbs up through the trees of the Amazon's wet forests^{[1, 7, 8]}. It belongs to Tynanthus, a small genus of American lianas that ranges from southern Mexico to southern Brazil and is recognized by its clove scent^{[3, 4]}. Botanists first described the species as Schizopsis panurensis; it was later moved into Tynanthus, the genus where it sits today^{[1, 2, 8]}.

Its common name is a plain description. Clavo is Spanish for clove, and huasca comes from the Quechua word for rope, a natural word for a vine; together they make "clove vine"^{[9, 10, 11]}. In Brazil people use the same image for its relatives, calling Tynanthus vines cipó-cravo^{[3, 5]}. The scent is real chemistry: the plant contains eugenol and eugenol-based compounds, and eugenol is a major component of clove oil^{[6, 8, 12, 14]}.

In Amazonian folk practice, it is the bark that is valued^{[6, 7]}. The vine is part of folk tradition across the Amazon, with records of its use from Brazil, Ecuador and Peru^{[7, 8]}. Locally, the clove-scented plant is also brewed as a tea and used as a spice^[8].

Traditional uses

Clinical studies of clavo huasca in people are still few, but its traditional use across the Amazon is rich and remarkably consistent^{[7, 8]}.

• A tonic for energy and vitality

  In Amazonian folk tradition, clavo huasca bark is taken as a tonic to support energy and vitality.*^{[7, 8]}

• A tonic for men and women

  In Brazil, Ecuador and Peru it is also a traditional tonic for men, and in Peru for women too; it supports a healthy libido.*^[8]

• Joint comfort

  In Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, clavo huasca has a long tradition of use for the joints; it supports joint function and comfort.*^{[7, 8]}

• Digestive comfort

  In Brazil it is also a traditional digestive herb, and it supports healthy digestion.*^[8]

• Antioxidant compounds

  The bark provides naturally occurring antioxidant compounds.*^{[6, 7]}

Plant compounds

The bark is rich in phenolic compounds^{[6, 7]}. Chemists have identified several phenylpropanoid glycosides in it, such as verbascoside, isoverbascoside and leucosceptoside, along with a eugenol-based glycoside that was new to science and turned out to be the most abundant of them^[6]. Eugenol itself, a major component of clove oil, occurs in the essential oil of the wood and leaves^{[8, 14]}. Eugenol is a phenylpropanoid too, so the vine's clove scent and its best-studied bark compounds belong to the same chemical group^{[6, 14]}.