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MANAYUPA

Manayupa
Manayupa 2
Manayupa 3

Botanical name:

Desmodium molliculum. Trade also names Desmodium adscendens — a different species, not a synonym.

Alternative names:

Manayupa, pata de perro, pega pega, amor seco

Main indications:

  • liver comfort tea, in folk use
  • respiratory ease, in folk use
  • water retention / diuretic talk, in folk use
  • joint discomfort, in folk use

THIS PLANT IS PART OF THE HOJAS DEL ESPÍRITU ANACONDA, ESPÍRITU DEL LAGO, TAPIR VERDE AND LLUVIA SAGRADA HERBAL FORMULAS.

Short characteristics:

Manayupa on this page is Desmodium molliculum, an Andean and Amazon-edge creeper. Shop lists also sell D. adscendens under the same name. That is a different plant. Peñaherrera 2025 used DNA barcodes to keep them apart and found higher in-vitro antioxidant activity in D. molliculum. That is a dish, not a hepatitis trial.

Folk teas use the aerial parts for liver comfort, respiratory ease, water-retention talk, and joint discomfort. Olascuaga-Castillo 2020 is the ethnobotany to read. It is not a hepatitis medicine and not an epilepsy drug.

House formulas: Hojas del Espíritu Anaconda, Espíritu del Lago, Tapir Verde, Lluvia Sagrada. This site sells nothing.

The usual way of use:

Place 2–3 spoons of dried plant in one liter of boiling water; simmer 30 minutes. Drink through the day. Or steep 10 minutes as a shorter tea.

Powdered extracts follow the label. This site sells nothing.

WARNING: Not a hepatitis or epilepsy medicine. D. adscendens papers are the other species.

Composition

Andean Desmodium phenolics. I am not copying an adscendens alkaloid list onto molliculum.

Traditional use

Folk liver, respiratory, diuretic, and joint tea. Formulas: Hojas, Espíritu del Lago, Tapir Verde, Lluvia Sagrada.

Precautions

Wrong species in the bag. Not hepatitis, not epilepsy, not a gynecological drug.

Opened studies

  • Olascuaga-Castillo et al. (2020). Ethnobotany of Desmodium molliculum. Ethnobotany Research and Applications. This species in the Andean trade. ERA 1811.

  • Peñaherrera et al. (2025). DNA barcodes split D. molliculum from D. adscendens. Frontiers in Plant Science. Species split; in-vitro antioxidant, not a hepatitis trial. doi:10.3389/fpls.2025.1612556.