Guarana: The Amazon Climbing Plant and Its Red Fruit Story

A liana of the Amazon

Guarana, known to botanists as Paullinia cupana, is a climbing plant native to the Amazon basin. Plants of this type are called lianas: woody vines that start on the forest floor and climb trees to reach sunlight. In the wild, a guarana vine can scramble many meters up its host. Growers on plantations keep the plants pruned into a low, bushy shape so the fruit is easy to pick.

It belongs to the soapberry family, a big group of tropical plants that also includes lychee and rambutan. The leaves are compound, meaning each leaf is divided into several leaflets, and the plant produces long clusters of small, pale flowers.

The red fruit with a dark seed

The most memorable thing about guarana is its fruit. Small, round to pear-shaped capsules ripen to a bright red or orange-red. When ripe, they split open, revealing a glossy, dark seed partly covered by a pale, fleshy cup called an aril. People often compare the look to a tiny eye peering out of the fruit, and the image has become a signature of the plant.

The color contrast is striking: red husk, white aril and a nearly black seed. After harvest, the seeds are separated from the husks and dried so they can be stored.

Cultivation in Brazil

Guarana is cultivated mainly in Brazil, with the state of Amazonas and the town of Maues strongly associated with it. Farmers plant it in warm, humid, rainy areas, often in small family plots as well as larger plantations. The plants take a few years to begin fruiting, and harvests come once a year in many areas.

Brazilian grocery shelves show guarana's cultural footprint. Soft drinks that carry the plant's name are a familiar sight across the country, and visitors to Brazil often see them in cafes and shops.

Cultivation of the plant follows a steady yearly rhythm. Farmers propagate guarana from seeds or cuttings, and young plants are kept in nurseries before being moved to the field. The vines are pruned so that they stay compact, with branches that are easy to reach during the harvest. Because the plant is a perennial, a well-tended plot can produce fruit for many years.

At harvest time, workers collect the ripe clusters by hand, typically when the red husks begin to split. The seeds are then removed from the husks, washed to take off the white covering and dried. Fresh seeds are dark, glossy and firm, and drying makes them hard and easy to store.

Botanically, guarana is a good example of how a rainforest climber can be turned into a crop. In the wild the plant depends on trees for support, but in cultivation it relies on pruning and care. Researchers who study the plant describe a few different cultivated varieties, and breeding programs in Brazil have developed lines suited to plantation growing.

Where the name comes from

The name guarana is linked to the Sateré-Mawé people, an Indigenous people of the Amazon who have long cultivated the plant and whose language is the source of the word. The name is usually traced to a word in their language, often written as warana, and it has since been adapted in Portuguese and English as guarana. We mention it here simply as the origin of the name.

How guarana appears on a label

On ingredient lists, plants are often written by their Latin names, so guarana may show up as Paullinia cupana. Reading the Latin name helps you tell exactly which plant is meant. A few tips for reading botanical names on a label:

• The first word is the genus, a group of closely related plants.
• The second word is the species within that group.
• Sometimes the label includes the plant part, such as seed or leaf.

Slimzol is a dietary supplement in liquid drop form, shown as an amber glass dropper bottle with a sky-blue label on the brand's artwork, 2 fl oz (59.14 mL) per bottle. The brand names seven ingredients: Chromium (as Chromium Picolinate), Maca, African Mango, Grape Seed, Guarana, Green Tea and Gymnema. You can view them all on the Slimzol ingredients page, and the Slimzol reviews page is a handy next stop. For use, follow the serving instructions printed on the bottle label.

A final word on naming. Many Amazonian plants carry names from Indigenous languages, and those names often travel into Portuguese, English and Latin botanical writing. When you read a plant name on a label, it can be a small doorway into the people and places connected to it. Guarana is a clear case, since its name preserves a link to the Sateré-Mawé people, whose homeland lies along rivers in the central Amazon.

Botanists also record plants by their Latin names so that people everywhere can refer to the same species. For guarana, that name is Paullinia cupana. The genus name honors an early German botanist, while the species name is a Latinized form of a local word. Learning to read these two-part names is a handy skill for any ingredient label.

Keep reading

If you like plant stories, take a look at our guide to maca, the high Andes root vegetable. For friendly background on supplement labels, the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements consumer guide is a good resource, as is the U.S. FDA dietary supplements page.

Guarana ties together a rainforest vine, a vivid red fruit and an Indigenous language into one name. The next time you spot it on a label, you will know the story behind the word.

Whenever you are ready to see what is available, the order page shows the current price and offer. Check today's offer on the order page