Contact Info

Join us

CHUCHUHUASI

Chuchuhuasi 2
Chuchuhuasi 3
Chuchuhuasi

Botanical name:

Monteverdia laevis (formerly Maytenus laevis). Trade name unsettled; other Maytenus / Monteverdia barks are sold as chuchuhuasi.

Alternative names:

Chuchuhuasi, chuchuguaza, chuchuguazo, chuchuhuasha

Main indications:

  • traditional bark tonic for joint and back pain
  • after-childbirth recovery, in folk use
  • diarrhea, in folk use
  • folk antitumor talk — traditional, not a protocol

Used in Esencia de Mariposa Azul.

THIS PLANT IS PART OF THE SUSURRO DEL INIA AND ESENCIA DE MARIPOSA AZUL HERBAL FORMULAS.

Short characteristics:

Chuchuhuasi is an Amazonian bark tonic. The name on this page is Monteverdia laevis (formerly Maytenus laevis). Markets from Iquitos to Pucallpa sell several Maytenus and Monteverdia barks under the same word. People simmer it for stiff joints, a sore back, a tired body after childbirth, and loose stool. Those are the everyday folk uses.

Traditional talk has also named tumors. Marini-Bettolo 1981 is an early chemistry/ethnobotany note. Huamán-Castilla 2022 (ERA 4189) is ethnobotany of this trade. Chen 2021 is genus-level work and must be labeled as such — not as this species. Papers on M. macrocarpa are not this tree.

Drink it as a traditional tonic if that is your custom, not as a neurological or cancer medicine. This site sells nothing.

The usual way of use:

3 to 5 grams of dried bark (one to two large spoons) cooked in about 0.7 liters of water for 7 minutes. Drink through the day.

Powdered extracts follow the label. This site sells nothing.

WARNING: May raise heart rate in some people — lower the daily amount if it does. Not an antitumor or Parkinson’s / MS medicine. Pregnancy: traditional postpartum use is not a license to self-dose while pregnant.

Composition

Bark: triterpenes, phenols, a mixed profile. I am not copying a brochure list of “antitumor alkaloids” from a sister species. Chen 2021 is genus chemistry and is cited that way.

Traditional use

Western Amazonian bark wine and decoction for pain, recovery after childbirth, and diarrhea. Traditional antitumor talk may be named. It is folk talk. House formula: Esencia de Mariposa Azul.

Precautions

Tachycardia in some drinkers. Unidentified bark in the bag. Not a Parkinson’s, MS, or stroke medicine. Do not sell M. macrocarpa papers as this species.

Opened studies

  • Marini-Bettolo (1981). Chuchuhuasi / Maytenus note. Early paper on this trade name. PMID 7033668.

  • Huamán-Castilla et al. (2022). Ethnobotany of chuchuhuasi in the Peruvian trade. Ethnobotany Research and Applications. ERA 4189. Opened. ERA 4189.

  • Chen et al. (2021). Maytenus / Monteverdia chemistry. Genus-level; not a trial of M. laevis. PMC8347511.