Stevia Rebaudiana - 10 g Seeds

Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana), the sweet-leaf or candy-leaf plant, is a small perennial herb of the daisy family grown for the natural, calorie-free sweetener (steviol glycosides) concentrated in its leaves. Far sweeter than sugar, the dried leaf and its extracts are used as a sugar substitute for diabetics, in beverages and in health foods.

It grows as a bushy clump of slender stems clothed in narrow green leaves and is cultivated as a high-value crop in Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra and the cooler hill belts of India. The plant likes warm weather, fertile well-drained sandy-loam soils and steady moisture, and is harvested by repeatedly cutting the leafy shoots.

• Family: Asteraceae
• Native region: Paraguay and Brazil (South America)
• Mature height: 0.5–0.8 m
• Growth rate: fast

Sowing the seed: the seed is very fine and needs light to germinate, so surface-sow it on a moist, fine seed mix, press in lightly without covering, and keep warm and humid. Germination is often patchy, appearing in about 7–14 days. Prick out the small seedlings into pots and transplant once warm and well grown; cuttings are also widely used for reliable propagation.