Lepidium meyenii

Lepidium meyenii, known as maca or Peruvian ginseng, is an edible herbaceous biennial plant of the family Brassicaceae that is native to South America in the high Andes mountains of Peru. It was found exclusively at the Meseta de Bombón plateau close to Lake Junin in the late 1980s.Hermann, M, Bernet T. "The transition of maca from neglect to market prominence: Lessons for improving use strategies and market chains of minor crops." Agricultural Biodiversity and Livelihoods Discussion Papers 1. Bioversity International, Rome, Italy, 101 p., 2009. It is grown for its fleshy hypocotyl that is fused with a taproot, which is typically dried, but may also be freshly cooked as a root vegetable. If it is dried, it may be further processed into a flour for baking or as a dietary supplement. It also has uses in traditional medicine. As a cash crop, it is primarily exported as a powder that may be raw, or processed further by the supplement industry: gelatinized or made into an extract. Its Spanish and Quechua names include maca-maca, maino, ayak chichira, and ayak willku.

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