SumaPfaffia paniculata

Did you know?

• In Brazil, suma is known as para tudo, "for everything", for its reputation as an all-round tonic^{[5, 14]}.

• Despite its nickname, suma is not a ginseng at all. Asian ginseng is Panax ginseng^[11]; suma belongs to the amaranth family, alongside quinoa, spinach and beets^{[1, 8]}.

• Suma root contains 20-hydroxyecdysone, the same compound that insects use as a molting hormone when they grow a new outer skin^{[3, 9, 10]}.

• The species was first named Iresine erianthos in 1813; it has since been filed under Gomphrena and Pfaffia, and in 2000 it was placed in Hebanthe^{[1, 2]}.

• Many research papers spell its accepted name Hebanthe eriantha, while Kew's Plants of the World Online spells it erianthos. Both mean the same plant^{[1, 4, 12]}.

Origins and history

Suma is a plant of South America's seasonally dry tropics. It grows as a scrambling shrub or climber^[1], and it is the root, not the stem or leaf, that people gather^{[3, 5]}. Its home stretches across much of Brazil and into Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and northeastern Argentina^[1]. Like quinoa and amaranth, it belongs to the amaranth family, a group of about 175 genera found nearly worldwide^[8].

Its names tell a botanical story. The French botanist Jean Louis Marie Poiret first described the plant in 1813, as Iresine erianthos^[2]. In 1825 Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius gave the name Hebanthe paniculata to what later proved to be the same species, and in 1891 Otto Kuntze moved that name into the genus Pfaffia; as Pfaffia paniculata it entered the herb trade and the research literature^{[1, 2, 3, 13]}. In 2000 the botanist Troels Myndel Pedersen placed the species back in Hebanthe under its oldest name, Hebanthe erianthos, and botanists now list Pfaffia paniculata as a synonym^{[1, 2, 13]}. The plant has not changed, only its label. Suma is still widely sold as Pfaffia paniculata, and Raintree's labels use that name too.

The plant is widely collected and used in folk tradition^{[6, 12]}. In Brazil its local name, para tudo, sums up how people see it: a root for everything^{[5, 14]}. In English it goes by Brazilian ginseng^{[3, 4]}, a nickname that puts it alongside Asia's famous tonic root, although the two plants are not closely related^{[1, 11]}.

Traditional uses

Clinical studies of suma in people are still few^[6], but its traditional use is rich, and it centers on one idea: a root that helps you keep going.

• An all-round tonic

  In Brazil, suma root is taken as an all-round tonic, and its nickname para tudo says as much. Suma supports energy and vitality.*^{[5, 6, 14]}

• Everyday stress

  A survey of Brazilian herbal books lists suma among the country's native plants with an adaptogen-like reputation, meaning plants taken to help the body adapt to strain. Suma supports the body's response to everyday stress.*^[6]

• Stamina

  Suma supports stamina.*

Plant compounds

Suma root contains ecdysteroids, a family of plant compounds that includes 20-hydroxyecdysone (also called beta-ecdysone), ecdysone and pterosterone^{[3, 5]}. It also contains saponins called pfaffosides, together with a related compound, pfaffic acid^{[3, 5]}, and plant sterols such as beta-sitosterol and stigmasterol^{[5, 7]}.