Maca (scientific name: Lepidium meyenii Walp), (Spanish: Maca). Cruciferae plants in the Andes of South America. The leaves are oval and the roots are shaped like a radish. Edible, pure natural food with rich nutrition, it is known as "South American Ginseng". The hypocotyl of Maca may be golden yellow or yellowish, red, purple, blue, black or green. Pale yellow roots are the most common, with the best shape and taste. Maca is rich in high-unit nutrients and has the function of nourishing and strengthening the body.

Maca is native to high altitude mountainous areas, and is suitable for growing in high altitude, low latitude, large temperature difference between day and night, slightly acidic sandy soil and sunny land. The Andes mountains distributed in South America are planted in central and southern Peru, Yunnan, Xinjiang and other places in China, with a large suitable area.

Maca belongs to the genus Lepidium, and has many similarities with other Lepidium plants in plant morphological characteristics. There are about 175 species of Lepidium, which are widely distributed all over the world. It is an annual to perennial herb or semi-shrub, often with single hair, glandular hair and columnar hair; Stems simple or numerous, branched. Leaves herbaceous to papery, linear-subulate to broadly elliptic, entire, serrate to pinnately parted, petiolate, or heart-shaped at base. Racemes terminal and axillary; Sepals oblong or linear-lanceolate, slightly concave, not saccate at base, with white or red edge; Petals are white, a few are pink or yellowish, linear to spoon-shaped, shorter than sepals, sometimes degenerated or absent; Stamens 6, usually reduced to 2 or 4, with tiny nectaries between the bases; Style short or absent, stigma capitate, sometimes slightly cleft; Ovary usually has two ovules. Pods are oval, obovate, round or ovoid, flat, cracked, with narrow diaphragm, keel-like protrusions on petals, or wings at the top. Seeds ovate or elliptic, wingless or winged; Cotyledons lean against radicle, and seldom lean against radicle.