What does "stevia" mean?

Any of the sweet herbs of genus Stevia, native to tropical and subtropical regions of South America and western North America.

Stevia

Common synonyms include: candy leaf, sugar leaf, sweet herb of paraguay, sweet honey leaf, sweetleaf, sweetleaf.

//ˈstiːvɪə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Any of the sweet herbs of genus Stevia, native to tropical and subtropical regions of South America and western North America.
"A naturally sweet herb called stevia is gaining in popularity as a sugar substitute, especially in beverages. Food additives must provide evidence of their safety and effectiveness before receiving FDA approval, and stevia lacks this approval for use as a sweetener because so little is known about its effects on human health, save that it can be absorbed by the human digestive tract."
2
any plant of the genus Piqueria or the closely related genus Stevia wordnet
3
A sweetener, many times sweeter than an equal amount of sugar, extracted from Stevia rebaudiana, that can be substituted for sugar for some purposes.
"Stevia is a natural, non-fattening sweetener that is 30 to 100 times sweeter than sugar and without any of the aftertaste that is common in many sugar substitutes."
4
any plant of the genus Stevia or the closely related genus Piqueria having glutinous foliage and white or purplish flowers; Central and South America wordnet