Stevia is a small perennial herb belonging to the asteraceae family in the genus stevia. Its scientific name is stevia rebaudiana. Some commonly referred names are honey leaf plant sweet chrysanthemum sweetleaf stevia sugarleaf. Stevia plant is called as "stevia sanyantra" "meethi patti" in hindi usually. Stevia is valued most for its sweet leaves and its ability to replace sugar in a diet but stevia also contains a wealth of antioxidant compounds such as flavonoids triterpenes tannins caffeic acid kaempferol and quercetin among others.