Maca Root Powder Extract 20:1, Macamides 60%

• Latin Name: Lepidium Meyenii
• Synonyms: Maca, maca-maca, maino, ayak chichira, ayak willku
• Part of Used: Root
• Specifications: 20:1, Macamides 60%
• Appearance: Light yellow fine powder
• Application: Medicine, food additive, dietary supplement

What is Maca Root?

Maca plant is a perennial root vegetable resembling radish or turnip growing about 2 inches in height and spreading about 1 foot in diameter. The maca plants’ leaves are lobed forming a rosette around the rhizome with yellow flowers at the middle. Maca has a small fruit with ovoid shape seeds.

According to wikipedia,The first person to describe this species was Gerhard Walpers who, in 1843, named it Lepidium meyenii. In the 1990s Dr. Gloria Chacon made a further distinction of different species. She considered the widely cultivated natural maca of today to be a newer domesticated species, L. peruvianum.Most botanists today doubt this distinction, however, and continue to call the cultivated maca L. meyenii. The Latin name recognized by the USDA also continues to be Lepidium meyenii. There is a still ongoing debate about the correct nomenclature, and whether the distinction between meyenii and peruvianum is botanically correct or if they are the same species.

The natural environment of the maca is at 11-12ºS latitude and at an elevation of 3800–4400 m above sea level. At this elevation, temperatures of the growing season vary between -2 to 13°C in monthly mean minimum or maximum respectively. Temperatures can decline, however, as low as -10°C and frosts are common. Strong winds and sunlight also are characteristics of the native habitat of the maca. Maca today is still mainly cultivated in Peru, in the high Andes of Bolivia, and to a small extent also in Brazil.