Maca / Lepidium meyenii Walpers

Common name:
Maca

Other names:
Maka, maca-maca, maino, ayak, chichira, ayak willku, huto-huto.

Botanical Description:
It is an annual herbaceous plant. The root is tuberose -i.e., swollen- a word that comes from tuber in Latin. Its stems are underground and measure 10 to 14 cm in length and 3 to 5 cm in diameter in the widest part; they measure 15 cm in circumference. The plant presents a big quantity of white rootlets reaching up to 15 cm in length, extended in all directions. With hard consistency, it is found in two types of colors: yellow and purple. 
Its main stem is reduced, almost imperceptible.
Its leaves are extreme basal and measure 20 to 23 cm in length. Their petioles are strong and can reach over 10 cm in length. Its scalloped leaves lean towards the ground.
The limb is bipinnatifid, 8 to 13 cm long and 3 cm wide in the distal part. The secondary stems form the branches and are 10 to 16 cm long. 
The leaves are reduced caulinar, alternate and spread. The bases are 5 cm long and are bipinnatifid, the intermediate ones are 3 cm long and are also bipinnatifid, and the apical ones, slightly parted, are 1 to 2 cm long.
The inflorescence is in simple, short, apical and axillary raceme. There are also axillary flowers that do not form a raceme. 
The flower is small, complete and hypogynous; i.e., the calyx, corolla, stamens and the pistil grow from beneath the gyneceum on the floral receptacle. It is actinomorphic. 
The calyx has imbricate praefloration, with four free ovate, elliptical and concave sepals, measuring 1,2 to 1,4 mm in length and 0,7 to 0,8 mm in width. It is light green and has off-white borders. 
The corolla has four free linear white petals alternating the sepals, which are slightly bent towards the apex, 1,4 to 1,6 mm long. The androecium has six tetradynamous stamens, two of them are fertile, with elongated and thick filament, basifixed dithecal anthers, with longitudinal dehiscence and ovate yellow pollen grains. The four remaining stamens are tiny and sterile, and are arranged at both sides of the fertile ones. 
The gyneceum is syncarpous and the ovary, 1,5 mm long, formed by two joined carpels, is bicarpellary, bilocular and superior with two anatropous ovules having apical axillary placentation. The style is very reduced and the stigma is globose and papillose, with tiny papillas.
The silicle fruit is dry, slightly marginated in the apex, 2,8 to 3,3 mm long and 2,5 mm wide, with only one seed in each cell. Its longitudinal dehiscence follows the direction of the partition, which is membranous. When ripe, the dry pericarp separates in three portions and the persisting central portion has linked seeds. The central part is the septum and the two portions are the valves. The seed is ovoid (floral formula K2-2,Co 4:A 2-4: G(2).
The Cruciferae family presents 350 kinds and over 2500 species. Twenty of these kinds are known in the Peruvian wildlife. Thirteen species are known within the Lepidium kind. The Lepidium meyenii species is found is the Andean zones of different countries of South America.

Chemical Composition:
The roots are the edible or usable part of this plant. They are consumed decocted and in such estate they have 13 to 16% of protein. They are rich in essential amino acids.
The existence of four alkaloids called macaina 1,2,3 and 4 has been reported, with Rf values of 0,680, 0,346, 0,198 and 0,851, respectively. Moreover, it presents glucocinolates, benzyl isothiocyanate, p-methoxybenzyl isothiocyanate, carbohydrates, starch, fructose and maltose. The former is broken down in two glucoses, cellulose and lignin, fatty acids and tannins. 
Calcium (Ca), with over 100 000 ppm or over 10%, as macronutrients, excelled in the spectrographic chemical analysis conducted with the maca root by Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería in October 1996.
Regarding phosphorus (P), the Nutrition Institute reported values over 183,3 mg % in 1978.
Phosphorus and calcium have a central place in biology: They are responsible for the structural functions affecting the skeleton and soft tissues and for the regulating functions of the neuromuscular transmission and of the chemical and electric stimuli.
85% of phosphorus is found in the skeleton and intervenes in the formation of ATP (Adenosin triphosphate).
Maca (Lepidium meyenii Walpers) presents 11 g % of proteins in the dry root and 14 g % in the integral paste (Nutrition Institute 1978).
Cellulose and lignin have been found in the analysis of the roots, besides carbohydrates, maltose, fructose and tannins. 
The maca starch contains calcium, phosphorus, iron, fatty acids, and natural oils.
The following oligoelements are also found in the maca root: potassium, magnesium, silica, iron, aluminum, sodium, manganese, copper, tin, zinc and bismuth.

Distribution: 
This species is found in the highlands, specially in the Junín Pampas. It grows at 3 500 - 4 500 m a.s.l. It is a plant that grows in the puna region.

General Aspects:
Maca was one of the first plants to be domesticated by the Andean people. Its cultivation continued during the colonial times until the sixteenth century, and its importance gradually varied throughout the years. It is known to have been used as nutrient and medicine for 2000 years. 
Archeologist Ramiro Matos, who studies pre-Hispanic agriculture in the Junín puna region, claims that maca L. Meyenii might have been domesticated in the superior medium formative period (700 BC) and that there is no evidence in the zone dating before such period. However, it is noteworthy that the agricultural activity in the high plateau of Junín is much older than the maca domestication (Lepidium meyenii W.).
The archeological evidences demonstrate that the sedentarization process of human groups in the puna region of Junin took place in very early stages due to the characteristics of the environment, which were stable and with enough hydrobiological resources. This allowed the domestication of maca and its usage.
Agusto Weberbauer, in El mundo vegetal de los Andes peruanos (1945), claims that he found maca in the puna region between Candarave and Carumas, in the department of Puno, at 4600 m a.s.l. 
In its newspaper articles (1978), Javier Pulgar Vidal describes maca as a crop having a very important function in the feeding of the region. This crop is currently found in Ondores, Huayre, Uco, Ninacaca, Matacancha, Auquimarca and Junín, located in the Bombón plateau; and in Jarpa and in the road from Huancayo to Yauyos as well. 

Traditional uses:

	As food: The root is previously dried and then decocted in order to be used. The leaves are consumed as a complement for salads.
	As liquor: The decocted roots are macerated and blended to prepare a cocktail.
	As tonic: The root is considered an excellent tonic by the Andean people.
	Antirachitic
	Antianemic
	To fight against the alterations in the menstrual and/or hormonal cycle.
	In ethnoveterinary: It is administered to animals in order to increase their fertility and put them in estrus.

Clinical studies: 
The preliminary observations of the pharmacological studies were positive in the sense that the histological findings in rats show a clear and defined stimulation of the maturation of follicles. An increase in the quantity of spermatozoids in the seminiferous tubes, as well as an increase of mitosis and espermatogonia is observed in the females and males.
In laboratory animals, it has shown a positive effect as a food and as a medicine, with benign effects on blood and the reproductive system, thus scientifically confirming the Andean people's belief about its medicinal kindness in human and animal development.
The action of the alkaloids, calcium and iron of maca could be used to fight against anemia and as stimulants in the formation of red corpuscles and in human and animal reproduction. It could also be used to help fighting against certain illnesses currently being researched, such as leukemia, aids, alcoholism, menopause anemia and other blood-referred illnesses, after getting the results of the corresponding experiments (Chacón 1997).
Its properties have been researched in different parts of the world. The studies have been conducted in rats and mice; only one study has been conducted in healthy human beings.
An increase in the number of coitus is observed in the rodents within this group of benefits. It also favors the spermiation, which is the release of spermatozoids through the seminiferous tubules, and it improves the weight when the second generation of rats are born, after a dietetic substitution of maca with the balanced food.
Chinese research on mice with erectile dysfunction that were treated with maca should be deepened before being disclosed, since they are prone to be misinterpreted, and such research says maca is an Andean viagra or a vegetable viagra, while the true effect of this plant does not consist of merely gonad-related action.
The study carried out in humans reports an action of maca in its gelatinized tablet form (maca La MolinaÒ), on the improvement of the seminal liquid quality. This is the only study so far conducted in human beings and it corroborates -for the benefit of many people- the fact that the experimental studies in laboratory animals are encouraging.
It is noteworthy that the studies should be serious and should report to the consumer that this plant is not an aphrodisiac. It has more properties and it is rich in compounds. There is a lot to be researched about it.