Huanarpo machoJatropha macrantha

Did you know?

• Macho is Spanish for "male". The word matters, because several different plants are sold in Peruvian herb markets under the name huanarpo, including some labeled huanarpo hembra, "female huanarpo"^{[4, 5]}.

• Huanarpo macho belongs to the spurge family, the same plant family that gives us cassava, the rubber tree and the poinsettia^{[1, 7]}.

• The botanist who named it in 1865, Johannes Müller Argoviensis, named sangre de grado (Croton lechleri) the following year^{[1, 6]}.

• Of the roughly 100 records of the plant in GBIF, the global biodiversity database, 91 are from Peru and only 7 from Ecuador^[3].

• It is a plant of the seasonally dry tropics, a semi-succulent shrub rather than a rainforest tree^{[1, 2]}.

• Its flowers are orange-red, gathered in scarlet, head-like clusters^[8].

Origins and history

Huanarpo macho grows as a semi-succulent shrub in the seasonally dry country of western Peru, from the coastal valleys up into the highlands, and just across the northern border into southwestern Ecuador^{[1, 2]}. It stands about 1.5 to 2 meters (5 to 6.5 feet) tall, with fleshy, spreading branches and orange-red flowers, and in the dry season its leaves turn brown early^[8]. It was described in 1865 by the botanist Johannes Müller Argoviensis (1828 to 1896)^{[1, 6]}. A later name, Jatropha rumicifolia, published in 2001, is now considered the same species^{[1, 4]}.

In Peru the plant is known simply as huanarpo or, more precisely, huanarpo macho^{[3, 4]}. The second word is a useful label in the market. The name huanarpo is also given to other, unrelated plants, and some of them are sold as huanarpo hembra, the "female" huanarpo^[5]. Huanarpo macho is the shrub Jatropha macrantha.

The part used is the young stem^[8]. Traditionally it has been made into a tincture or steeped in water as an infusion and taken as a tonic^[2]. Kew's plant-name index for traditional plants records huanarpo macho among the plants of the northern Peruvian Andes^[4].

Traditional uses

Huanarpo macho has been little studied outside Peru, but at home its traditional role is clear: it is a tonic for men.

• A tonic for men

  In Peru the young stems have traditionally been prepared as a tincture or a water infusion and taken by men as a tonic for vitality and stamina.*^{[2, 8]}

• Healthy libido

  Huanarpo macho supports healthy libido.*^[2]

• Energy and vitality

  Valued in Peru as a general pick-me-up, huanarpo macho supports energy and vitality.*^[2]

Plant compounds

Laboratory analysis of huanarpo macho stems has identified catechin, a catechin glucoside (catechin-7-O-β-glucopyranoside) and proanthocyanidin B-3, which is the most abundant of the three^[2]. These are flavan-3-ols, the same family of naturally occurring plant compounds as the catechins in tea.