What Is Damiana? Meet the Turnera diffusa Plant

TL;DR: Damiana is Turnera diffusa, a small aromatic shrub that grows wild from Texas through Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The leaf smells sweet and slightly resinous, and it carries flavonoids like apigenin, acacetin and pinocembrin, along with arbutin, a little caffeine and cyanogenic glycosides. Most of what science knows about it comes from lab and animal work.

Damiana at a glance

Damiana is the common name for Turnera diffusa, a woody shrub that people have used for centuries as a tea, a liqueur flavoring and a smoking herb. You will also see it sold under the older name Turnera aphrodisiaca, which tells you what it was best known for in folk use. In Mexico it is often called hierba de la pastora.

The part people use is the leaf, dried and cut. Good leaf is olive to gray-green, a little fuzzy on the underside, and it smells sweet and warm as soon as you open the bag. That smell comes from the essential oil in the leaf, and it fades if the leaf is left open to air and light.

What the plant looks like

Damiana is a low shrub, usually under 2 meters tall, with many thin branches. The leaves are small, about 1 to 2.5 cm long, narrow at the base and toothed along the edges. The top of the leaf is smooth and green, the underside paler and covered in fine hairs. Small yellow five-petaled flowers open at the leaf joints through much of the warm season, and they are followed by small seed capsules.

The plant handles heat, drought and poor rocky soil well. That is why it shows up on dry hillsides, desert scrub and coastal slopes, often in places few other plants want.

Where damiana grows

The native range runs from southern Texas through Mexico and Central America, across the Caribbean islands and into northern South America. Baja California Sur is one of the best known regions for wild damiana, and the plant has a long history there as a tea and as the base for a local liqueur. You can read more about that tradition in our post on damiana liqueur and margaritas.

Where it sits in the plant family tree

For a long time Turnera had its own family, Turneraceae. Modern botany folds that group into Passifloraceae, the passionflower family. A 2014 review by Szewczyk and Zidorn in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology counts about 135 accepted Turnera species, and only around six of them have a record of traditional medicinal use. Damiana is by far the best known of the group (Szewczyk and Zidorn, 2014, PMID 24468305).

What is in the leaf

The same 2014 review pulls together decades of chemistry work on the genus. The main groups of compounds found in damiana are:

• Flavonoids. Apigenin and its glycosides, acacetin, pinocembrin and several others. These are the compounds researchers study most.
• Cyanogenic glycosides. Compounds that can release small amounts of cyanide when the leaf breaks down, which is one reason to keep to normal tea amounts.
• Arbutin. A phenolic glycoside also found in bearberry leaf.
• Caffeine. Present in small amounts, which fits the light lift people describe.
• Terpenoids and essential oil. These give the leaf its sweet, resinous smell and taste.

A 2008 study by Zhao and colleagues at the University of Mississippi isolated 24 separate compounds from damiana leaves. They screened them in lab assays for aromatase activity and estrogen-like activity. Pinocembrin and acacetin were the strongest aromatase inhibitors in that test, and apigenin 7-glucoside, pinocembrin and a compound called Z-echinacin showed estrogen-like activity in cells (Zhao et al., 2008, PMID 18948180). These were test tube results, not human trials, so they tell us what the compounds can do in a dish rather than what a cup of tea does in a person.

How people have used damiana

The Szewczyk review lists a wide spread of folk uses across Mexico and Central America: a tea for the stomach, a tea for coughs, a bath herb, and above all a love tonic. That last use is where the old species name comes from. Today most people know damiana in three forms:

• Tea. The leaf steeped in hot water. It tastes sweet, herby and a little bitter. See our damiana tea guide for brewing.
• Liqueur. The leaf steeped in a spirit and sweetened, a long tradition in Baja.
• Smoke blends. The dried leaf rolled alone or mixed with mullein, mint and other herbs. Our post on smoking damiana covers ratios.

What the research does and does not show

Most damiana studies are chemistry papers, cell studies and rodent studies. The Szewczyk review notes that the few human studies used multi-herb products, so they cannot say what damiana does on its own. If you want the full rundown of what has been tested, read Damiana Benefits: What the Research Says. For the animal work on sexual behavior, and what it does and does not mean for people, see Damiana for Men and Women: Tradition vs Studies.

A few cautions come up again and again. Large amounts of leaf are not a good idea because of the cyanogenic glycosides. Damiana has not been studied for safety in pregnancy or nursing. Lab screening has also shown that damiana extract can block CYP3A4, a liver enzyme that clears many medications, so talk to your doctor before using it if you take any prescription drug.

Choosing good damiana leaf

Look for leaf that is green rather than brown, smells sweet when you open the bag, and is mostly leaf rather than stem. Store it sealed, cool and out of the light. Our organic damiana leaf is cut leaf of Turnera diffusa, sold in 4 oz, 1 lb and 10 lb bags.

FAQ

Is damiana the same as Turnera aphrodisiaca?
Yes. Turnera aphrodisiaca is an older name that is now treated as a synonym or variety of Turnera diffusa. Both names show up on labels and in research papers.

What does damiana smell like?
Sweet, warm and herby, a little like chamomile crossed with oregano. The smell comes from the essential oil in the leaf and fades with age and air.

Does damiana contain caffeine?
A small amount. Caffeine shows up in chemical analyses of the leaf, but at much lower levels than coffee or black tea.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Adults 21+.