About Nectar Leaf

Similar to Coffea, Mitragyna speciosa is grown in the tropics and can be found growing naturally in South East Asia. It is indigenious to Indonesia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, and Myanmar, but can also grow in Central and South America. As you may have deducted, it thrives in environments that are hot and extremely humid. Mitragyna speciosa makes it’s habit in “open savannahs and secondary forests at low elevation (via Useful Tropical Plants Database).” On the island of Borneo, the tree can be found in swamp and riverine forests that periodically flood. It is dominant in colonizing the areas in which it grows. Growing them at home, however, can be quite difficult due to their need for excessive water, and need for rich, fertile soil.

Naturally, Mitragyna speciosa is an evergreen tree, but when cultivated, deciduous. These trees can grow 10-30 meters tall (around 30-100ft) and are 60-100 cm in diameter (around 23-40 inches). The bark itself is grey in color and is smooth to the touch. Their leaves are dark green and have a glossy texture to them with the ability to grow over 20cm long (8in) and 12cm wide (4.7in). At the end of it’s branches is where you’ll find Mitragyna speciosa’s flowers, which appear in clusters of three.

The leaf veins, however, is how kratom obtains it’s different “strains.” Of these 12-17 different pairs of veins on each leaf, their coloration will appear either red, white, or green. Vein color is most directly impacted by geography and human intervention. For instance, impactors such as soil, rainfall, sunlight, and humidity all play important roles in giving kratom it’s defining color, for they impact how fast a tree will grow. White veins, for instance, originate whenever the leaf has not yet reached full maturation. White vein is also dried indoors, void of any sunlight to maintain it’s alkaloidal properties. Red vein leaves, however, have had more time to mature naturally, and then are continually exposed to sunlight after harvesting. Harvest season for the Mitragyna speciosa occurs through late summer through early Autumn. This is done by farmers either picking them themselves or waiting for the leaves to fall off.