Huanarpo Macho — Peru’s Legendary Love Tonic

Huanarpo Macho — Peru’s Legendary Love Tonic

In Peru, huanarpo macho (Jatropha macrantha) has long had one particularly colorful reputation: male vigor.

This native Peruvian botanical is one of the country’s traditional aphrodisiac plants, associated in folk herbal practice with desire, potency, stamina and sexual vitality. Its reputation became strong enough that huanarpo macho is sometimes cheekily marketed as the “Peruvian Viagra” — a modern nickname for a much older tradition.

Traditionally prepared in decoctions, tinctures and strengthening botanical tonics, huanarpo belongs to an old class of herbs taken when a man wished to put a little more fire back in the furnace.

Folklore? Ethnobotany? Perhaps a little jungle optimism? Whatever the answer, Peruvians have been interested in huanarpo macho for a very long time — and not because it makes a particularly lovely cup of tea.

Sold by the ounce as a mix of cut and dried and powdered huanarpo macho (Jatropha macrantha).