Stevia rebaudiana Bert. Is one of the 154 members of the genus Stevia and one of the only two that produce sweet diterpene glycosides. Stevia rebaudiana (Stevia-r), native to Paraguay, is commonly known as honey leaf or Madhu Patra in India, a name coined by ASR GROUP and is called Madhu Parni, Madhu Patri, Seeni Tulasi in Marathi, Telagu and Tamil, respectively. There is a large effort aimed at establishing Stevia-r as a crop in China, Japan, Brazil, India and many other countries. The Gaurani Indians in the Rio-Monday Valleys have been using Stevia-r to sweeten their tea, which is called "Ka-He" or "CaaHe" for over 1000 years, which reflects the safety of Stevia-r for long-term usage. Only in the later 1890's it was introduced to Europe by a botanist by name Bertoni from where it has spread elsewhere gaining a global importance. The market for Stevia-r in India is yet nascent and is growing very rapidly. ASR has been working on the cultivation, propagation and breeding of Stevia-r since 1997 and is the first Indian Nursery dedicated towards the establishment of Stevia-r in the Indian subcontinent.

Stevia-r is a plant producing vegetative growth under long day conditions, but is induced to flowering under short days with practically no seed set under Indian conditions as tested and verified by ASR Nurseries. It is a small shrubby perennial plant growing up to 65 cm height, and appears to be self-incompatible. Characterization of Stevia-r has yielded eight different sweet di-terpene glycosides of Steviol so far. These glycosides accumulate in Stevia-r leaves contributing to 10 to 12% of the leaf dry weight. On a dry weight basis, a typical profile for the four major glycosides found in the leaves of Stevia-r comprises 0.3% Dulcosides, 0.6% Rebaudioside C, 3.8% Rebaudioside A and 9.1% Stevioside. Other glycosides identified within Stevia rebaudiana include Rebaudioside B, C, and E, and Dulcosides A and B.

The dried leaves of Stevia-r are about 20 times sweeter than sugar, besides being totally calorie free. They are an excellent source of herbal calorie free sweeteners (non-proteinacious too) with very high temperature stability of Stevioside - up to 180°C. The leaves can be powdered and used directly as sweetener/ flavour enhancer/ face pack/ mouth wash or made into a liquid extract and used thereupon. ASR can supply sun dried leaves of Stevia-r in bulk quantities.