ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information, such as uses, folk medicine, chemistry, toxicity, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Paullinia Cupana Kunth Tree, known as Guarana. Guarana is a dried paste, chiefly of crushed seeds, which may be swallowed, powdered, or made into a beverage. A nervine tonic and stimulant, the drug owes its properties to caffeine. Used for cardiac derangements, headaches, especially those caused by menstrual or rheumatic derangements, intestinal disorders, migraine and neuralgia. Action is sometimes diuretic, and used for rheumatic complaints and lumbago. Latin Americans used the plant mainly as a stimulant and for treating chronic diarrhea and headache. People accustomed to guarana swear "that it improves health, helps digestion, prevents sleepiness, increases mental activity", and many whisper that it also improves sexual activity, but "it might act as a limiting factor to fertility". The most severe fungus known to attack guarana is Colletotrichum guaranicola Alb., which attacks the foliage and inflorescence.
