Agroforestree Database

Local names:
 English (guarana,Brazilian cocoa)

Paullinia cupana is a scandent shrub or woody liana.

Leaves compound alternate with five folioles and, when tendrils exist, they are axillary.

Inflorescences on axillary racemes or originate on the tendrils. Flowers yellow, male and female, zygomorphous and have five petals and sepals, eight stamens and a trilocular ovary with a glandular semi-disc at the base.

Fruit pear shaped, orange-red, and 3 sided with three-celled capsules, partially open when ripe, revealing 1-3 black or greenish seeds which are covered at the base with a white aril.

There are two varieties of P. cupana; var. cupana differs from var. sorbilis in that it has no tendrils, its folioles are more strongly lobed and its flowers and fruit are bigger. There is no information on the genetic variability of var. cupana, which is little known and studied, var. sorbilis shows a high degree of variability. 

The name 'Guaraná' comes from Guaranis, a tribe of South American Indians. The genus name, Paullinia was taken from a German medical botanist, C.F. Paullini, who 'discovered' the plant.

Ecology

The genus Paullinia is predominantly neotropical, native to the Brazilian Amazon. The climate of the region of origin is Am in Köppen's classification, with an isothermal temperature, mean annual temperature between 22 and 20 deg C. The minimum temperature tolerated is 12 deg C. Annual precipitation must exceed 1400 mm, with rain well distributed during the year. Soils must be deep, medium or heavy in texture, well drained and with high organic matter content.

Native range
Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Venezuela

Tree management

Traditional cultivation of guarana is carried out with full exposure to sun on soils with low fertility, low acidity and with high concentrations of aluminium. Spacing of the plants is approximately 4 m x 5 m, which gives 500 plants per hectare. After the second year, pruning is carried out to remove old and diseased branches and those that flowered the previous year. Since 1980, a new type of management has been adopted, using the same layout but with fertilizers and pruning to direct the branches along supports. Guarana must be grown in areas with a climate similar to its region of origin.

Seeds are recalcitrant and lose their viability in 72 hours under normal conditions. Germination can take more than 100 days.

The genus Paullinia is predominantly neotropical, native to the Brazilian Amazon. The climate of the region of origin is Am in Köppen's classification, with an isothermal temperature, mean annual temperature between 22 and 20 deg C. The minimum temperature tolerated is 12 deg C. Annual precipitation must exceed 1400 mm, with rain well distributed during the year. Soils must be deep, medium or heavy in texture, well drained and with high organic matter content.

Traditional planting is by sowing. Modern propagation techniques include cuttings, for which misting chambers, grafts and tissue culture propagation are used.

  Guarana is used mainly to produce soft drinks. Seeds contain 2.7-5.8 % caffeine as well as theophylline and theobromine. Seeds are roasted and their seed coat removed; this is marketed as guarana en rama (raw guarana). Seeds are usually immersed in water to form a paste. From this are made sticks, which, after being dried over a slow fire and smoked for one month, are marketed. The traditional way of preparing the drink consists of grating part of the stick in water to produce an infusion. The guarana carbonated drinks industry began in 1907 and the product became Brazil's national drink during the 1940s. Nowadays, guarana is marketed as sticks and soluble or insoluble powder and is used industrially for the production of carbonated drinks, syrups and herbalists' products.

Medicine: Guarana is attributed antipyretic, antineuralgic and antidiarrhoeal properties and is reputed to be a powerful stimulant, an analgesic comparable to aspirin and an anti-influenza agent. The Rainforest tribes have used guarana mainly as a stimulant, astringent and in treating chronic diarrhoea.

Essential oil:  The essential oil isolated from powdered seeds of guarana has 9 identifiable constituents: 2 methylbenzenes, a cyclic monoterpene, 2 cyclic sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, 2 methoxyphenylpropenes and 2 alkylphenol derivatives.

Other services:  Guaraná plays an important role in the culture of the Guarani tribe, as this herb is believed to be magical, a cure for bowel complaints and a way to regain strength. They also tell the myth of a 'Devine Child', that was killed by a serpe