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MUIRA PUAMA

Latin name: Ptychopetalum ovata (Oleaceae [olive] family)

Other common names: marapuama, potency wood, potenzholz.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Muira puama is a tree native to the Amazon rain forest, where it reaches a height of fifty feet (fifteen meters). It has a gray trunk, dark brown leaves, white flowers, and orange to orange-yellow fruits. The bark, root, and wood of the tree are used in herbal medicine. Many traditional remedies require the bark and wood of young plants.

EVIDENCE OF BENEFIT

Muira puama has long been valued as an aphrodisiac and a tonic for the nervous system. It is soothing and helpful for nervous exhaustion, stress, and trauma, and helps alleviate symptoms of depression. It is also used in formulations designed to treat male pattern baldness.

Benefits of muira puama for specific health conditions include the following:



• Impotency and diminished sex drive. Muira puama is a good addition to or replacement for treatment with yohimbe. Clinical studies of muira puama in France have found that using the herb as a sole treatment restores sex drive and erectile function in 51 to 62 percent of cases. From the preliminary information, it appears that it works by enhancing both psychological and physical aspects of sexual function.
  

(Source: Prescription for Herbal Healing, Copyright 2002, Phyllis A. Balch.)

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