Stevia (/ ˈstiːviə, ˈstɛviə /) is a sweet sugar substitute that is about 50 to 300 times sweeter than sugar. It is extracted from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana, a plant native to areas of Paraguay and Brazil in the southern Amazon rainforest.

Stevia is widely grown for its leaves, from which extracts can be manufactured as sweetener products known generically as stevia and sold under various trade names. The chemical compounds that produce its sweetness are various steviol glycosides (mainly stevioside and rebaudioside), which have 200–300 times the sweetness of sugar.

Stevia rebaudiana is the sweetest variety and most commonly grown as a natural sweetener, but over 100 species of stevia exist in North and South America. The leaves contain up to 5% dry weight of stevioside, a sweetener estimated to be up to 300 times sweeter than table sugar (sucrose).

stevia (sweetener), sweetener made from the leaves of the South American plant Stevia rebaudiana and used as a replacement for sugar. Refined stevia is classified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a nonnutritive sweetener.

Stevia’s sweetness comes from something called steviol glycoside found in the leaves. And it’s up to 400 times sweeter than the main ingredient of refined sugar, sucrose. This means you’ll need a lot less stevia than sugar in your beverages or sprinkled on fruit.