<P> The plant Stevia rebaudiana has been used for more than 1,500 years by the Guaraní peoples of South America , who called it ka'a he'ê ( `` sweet herb '' ) . The leaves have been used traditionally for hundreds of years in both Brazil and Paraguay to sweeten local teas and medicines , and as a `` sweet treat '' . The genus was named for Spanish botanist and physician Petrus Jacobus Stevus ( Pedro Jaime Esteve 1500 -- 1556 ) , a professor of botany at the University of Valencia . </P>
where does stevia in the raw come from
South America