The Stevia plant belongs to theComposite (sunflower family of plants). Centuries ago, Natives of Paraguay usedthe leaves of this small, herbaceous, semi-bushy, perennial shrub to sweetentheir bitter drinks. Originating in the South American wild, it could be foundgrowing in semi-arid habitat ranging from grassland to scrub forest to mountainterrain. The plant made its way to Pacific Rim countries, where in recentdecades it became cultivated domestically, used in its raw leaf form and now iscommercially processed into sweetener.
The plant closely resembles to sunflower, marigolds etc. offamily Asteraceae It has herbaceous growth habit. Stevia is a small shrubbyperennial growing up to 65 cm tall. Stevia rebaudiana (Bert.) is a herbaceousperennial plant of the family Asteraceae.
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