Catuaba Bark

Few herbs carry as tangled a botanical identity as catuaba. What's sold under this single name in Brazil actually refers to more than twenty different plants across at least three unrelated plant families — a confusion first documented as far back as 1906, and one that pharmacologists are still sorting out today.

The two species most commonly meant by "catuaba" are known in Brazil as the "big" and "small" varieties. Big catuaba, Trichilia catigua, belongs to the mahogany family and is by far the most commonly sold and studied version today. Small catuaba, usually labeled Erythroxylum catuaba, belongs to the same genus as the coca plant — though remarkably, the original species this name was based on has never been properly, formally described by botanists; it remains, officially, a plant without a confirmed identity. To complicate things further, Brazil's own official pharmacopoeia recognizes an entirely different plant, Anemopaegma arvense, from yet a third family, as the "true" catuaba — even though it's rarely what actually ends up in commercial bark today.

Whatever the exact species, the reputation attached to the name is remarkably consistent and remarkably old. Brazil's native Tupi people are credited with discovering catuaba's stimulating properties centuries ago, reportedly composing songs in its honor. Its enduring fame as an aphrodisiac is summed up in an old South American saying: "Until a father is 60, the son is his; after that, the son is Catuaba's." Traditionally taken as a tonic for fatigue and the nervous system as much as for libido specifically, catuaba is often combined with muira puama, another Brazilian herb, in traditional preparations aimed at male vitality — and today it's a component of Catuama, a well-known Brazilian phytomedicine blend.