Chanca Piedra (Phyllanthus niruri): A Botanical Guide
Chanca Piedra hangs its flowers and seed capsules underneath the leaf rows rather than above them. It is a tropical weed of footpaths, riverbanks and cleared ground, and the whole plant above the soil goes into the extract. This page covers the botany, the arithmetic on our label and the cautions. No claims are made here about what this botanical does.
- Latin name
- Phyllanthus niruri L., family Phyllanthaceae
- Part used
- Whole plant above ground — stems, leaves, seed capsules
- Origin
- Native to tropical America; now pan-tropical
- Per serving
- 900 mg of 10:1 extract, equivalent to 9,000 mg whole herb
- Format
- 60 vegan capsules; two ingredients only
- Allergens
- None. Free from gluten, soy and dairy
01 What Chanca Piedra is
A small annual, slender, rarely past 70 cm and often nearer 30. The stems branch thinly and carry small oval leaves set in neat rows along them. Underneath those rows — not above — sit the tiny pale green flowers, sometimes flushed red, and the small round seed capsules. Botanists file it as Phyllanthus niruri L., in the family Phyllanthaceae.
It is native to tropical America and strongly associated with the Amazon basin, but it has travelled. It now grows across tropical and subtropical South and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, South and Southeast Asia and parts of Oceania. This is a pioneer plant: forest clearings, riverbanks, field margins, footpaths, waste ground. Moist, well-drained soil suits it. Dry spells do not finish it off.
Because it takes so readily to disturbed ground, material entering the supply chain is commonly gathered from wild and semi-wild stands in tropical growing regions, though it is also cultivated. The whole plant above ground — stems, leaves and seed capsules together — is what gets harvested, dried and extracted.
About the name "Stone Breaker"
"Chanca piedra" is Spanish, and translates literally as "stone breaker". Related folk names follow the plant across its range: bhumi amla or bhui amla in South Asia, quebra-pedra in Brazil. Be clear about what that is. "Stone Breaker" is a folk name for the plant, carried down through common usage. It describes a traditional name, not an effect of this product. We use the name because it is how the botanical is known and searched for, not as any indication of what it does.
The plant has a long history of use in traditional herbal practice in the Americas, South Asia and elsewhere. We record that heritage as heritage. No health claim is made or implied by it.
02 What's in our product
A concentrated 10:1 extract, in a capsule. The arithmetic behind that number is worth a minute.
What "10:1" actually means
An extract ratio describes how much dried raw plant material went into making a given weight of finished extract. Ten parts of dried herb are processed down to one part of extract. So 10 kg of dried Chanca Piedra yields 1 kg of 10:1 extract powder.
A 900 mg serving of 10:1 extract is equivalent to 9,000 mg — 9 g — of whole dried herb. The sum is 900 × 10.
Two things the ratio is not. It is not standardisation: it says nothing about the level of any particular constituent. And it is not a measure of strength in any medicinal sense. It is a manufacturing description, nothing more.
- Botanical
- Chanca Piedra (Phyllanthus niruri)
- Extract ratio
- 10:1 concentrated extract
- Per serving (two capsules)
- 900 mg Chanca Piedra 10:1 extract, equivalent to 9,000 mg of whole herb
- Per capsule
- 450 mg Chanca Piedra 10:1 extract
- Ingredients
- Two only: Chanca Piedra extract, and cellulose (the capsule shell)
- Capsule shell
- Plant-derived cellulose. No gelatin, no animal-derived ingredients
- Suitable for vegans
- Yes
- Allergens
- Free from gluten, soy and dairy, and from common allergens
- Additives
- No artificial additives or sweeteners. Non-GMO
- Bottle count
- 60 capsules
- How long a bottle lasts
- 30 days at two capsules daily — a one-month supply
- Manufacture and dispatch
- GMP-manufactured; every order dispatched from the UK
- Format
- Capsules. This product is not available as drops or a tincture
Two ingredients means no bulking agents, no flow agents, no silica, no magnesium stearate, no rice flour, no fillers. The shell is cellulose. Inside it is Chanca Piedra extract.
03 How to take it
The label directions run to one line. Take two capsules daily, preferably with a meal and water. Do not exceed the recommended amount.
- Timing. The label does not specify a time of day. A fixed point in the day — the same meal each time — makes a daily habit easier to keep to.
- With or without food. The directions say preferably with a meal. Concentrated botanical extracts sit more comfortably taken with food than on an empty stomach.
- Together or split. Two capsules is the daily serving. Both at once, or one at each of two meals — the daily total stays at two.
- Swallow whole. Take with a full glass of water.
- Do not exceed. More is not a better plan. Stay at the labelled serving.
- Food supplement. This is not a substitute for a varied and balanced diet or a healthy lifestyle.
Storage. Keep the bottle tightly closed in a cool, dry place, out of direct sunlight. Not above a hob, not on a windowsill, not in a steamy bathroom cabinet — heat and humidity are what degrade dried plant extracts. Keep out of the sight and reach of children. Check the best-before date on the bottle.
04 Taste and format
Capsules only, so for most people taste never comes up: the capsule is swallowed whole and the cellulose shell does not dissolve until it is past the palate. There is no flavouring and no sweetener, because there is nothing to flavour around.
Open one — some people prefer to empty the contents into food or a drink — and you get a fine, dark plant powder with a dry, grassy, earthy smell, much like other dried leaf-and-stem material. The taste is plainly herbal and on the bitter side. That is normal for a concentrated botanical extract and is not a sign that anything is wrong with the product. Shade and aroma also vary from batch to batch. That reflects harvest and growing conditions, not quality.
The capsules are a standard size and the bottle holds 60. Chanca Piedra is sold elsewhere as a loose dried herb for infusions, as a tincture and as drops. We do not currently offer those formats, so everything on this page applies to capsules.
05 Where to find it
Our Chanca Piedra is a 10:1 extract, 900 mg per two-capsule serving, 60 vegan capsules to a bottle — a one-month supply, with two ingredients and nothing else.
- UK Standard delivery
- £3.95 — free on orders of £30 or more
- UK Express delivery
- £4.95 — free on orders of £48 or more
- Dispatch
- Within 1–2 business days
- Typical delivery time
- 1–4 business days, by Royal Mail or Amazon Logistics
- Returns
- 30 days from receipt to request a return. Item must be unopened, untampered, in its original packaging, with proof of purchase. Email hello@probotanics.co.uk to start — an accepted return receives a return shipping label and instructions. Items sent back without requesting a return first are not accepted. For damaged, defective or incorrect items, contact us immediately on receipt.
- Questions
- hello@probotanics.co.uk
ProBotanics Ltd is a UK company, number 13685177, with its registered office at 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE. It was incorporated on 18 October 2021 as Peak Supplements Ltd and renamed ProBotanics Ltd on 28 November 2023, when the brand moved away from its original sports and bodybuilding range to single-botanical food supplements.
This is a food supplement, not a medicine. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition, and it is not a substitute for a varied and balanced diet or a healthy lifestyle. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking any medication or under medical care, speak to your doctor or pharmacist before use. Keep out of the sight and reach of children.