Kratom Glossary: Botany, Extracts, Testing, Labels, and Research Terms

This glossary covers the plant, extract, testing, label, and research terms most often encountered when reading about kratom or comparing products.

Botany and cultivation

Mitragyna speciosa

The accepted botanical name for kratom, a tree in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew records its native range from southern Indochina to New Guinea.

Botanical name

A scientific name formed from a genus and species. It identifies a biological taxon.

Genus

The classification rank above species. Mitragyna contains several accepted species, including M. speciosa.

Common name

A name used in everyday language. Kratom, krathom, ketum, and biak-biak appear in different regional and linguistic settings.

Voucher specimen

Preserved plant material deposited in a recognized collection with collection data and an identification. Researchers can examine it again when taxonomy changes or new questions arise.

Native range

The places where botanical authorities record a species as occurring naturally. Cultivation and trade can extend beyond that range.

Wild-harvested

Collected from a naturally reproducing population. Responsible wild collection includes a defined area, legal authority, harvest plan, ecological monitoring, and traceability.

Cultivated

Deliberately planted or managed for production, including home gardens, mixed agroforestry, orchards, and planted stands.

Agroforestry

A production system that intentionally combines trees or other woody plants with crops or animals.

Cutting

A piece of living stem used to propagate a new plant. A successfully rooted cutting is genetically matched to its source plant.

Seedling

A young plant grown from seed. Seedlings combine genetic material through sexual reproduction.

Leaf, powder, and extract formats

Fresh leaf

Leaf used before commercial drying. Southern Thai and northern Malaysian studies describe fresh leaves being chewed or prepared with water.

Dried leaf

Leaf after moisture reduction. Drying conditions affect storage, color, and microbial risk.

Kratom powder

Dried Mitragyna speciosa leaf that has been milled.

Plain leaf

Leaf material with no declared added extract.

Enhanced powder

Leaf powder combined with an extract or alkaloid-rich ingredient. The ingredient statement and alkaloid declaration explain the enhancement.

Tea or water preparation

Leaf or powder prepared with water. Material, time, temperature, and water volume affect the liquid.

Extract

Material produced by separating and concentrating selected plant constituents with water, alcohol, or another process.

Extraction ratio

A relationship between starting botanical mass and resulting extract mass, such as 10:1. Its meaning depends on the starting material and manufacturing basis.

Standardized extract

An extract manufactured to meet an amount or range for a named constituent.

Full-spectrum

A commercial phrase suggesting that multiple plant constituents remain in an extract. An analytical profile supplies the measurable detail.

Isolate

A highly purified individual compound. Purity, method, and impurity profile describe the material.

Format

The physical form delivered to the buyer: powder, capsule, tea, tablet, gummy, liquid, shot, resin, or extract powder.

Alkaloids and measurement

Alkaloid

A broad class of nitrogen-containing compounds produced by many plants.

Mitragynine (MIT)

A major kratom alkaloid and a common analytical marker for leaf and extract products.

7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH or 7-HMG)

A kratom-related alkaloid present at low levels in leaf and also sold in concentrated products.

Analyte

The substance or property a laboratory method measures, such as mitragynine, lead, arsenic, or Salmonella.

Chromatogram

An instrument record showing separated signals across an analytical run.

Reference standard

Material with a well-characterized identity and value used for calibration or measurement checks.

Milligram (mg)

One-thousandth of a gram. The label should state whether milligrams refer to leaf fill, an alkaloid, or another ingredient.

Percent by weight (% w/w)

The mass of a named constituent divided by total sample mass and multiplied by 100. On the same basis, 1% equals 10mg per gram.

Parts per million (ppm)

A ratio used frequently for trace contaminants. In solids on a mass basis, 1ppm commonly equals 1mg per kilogram.

CFU/g

Colony-forming units per gram, a microbiology unit estimating viable organisms under the test conditions.

Laboratory and traceability terms

Assay

A defined procedure used to measure an analyte or property.

Limit of detection (LOD)

The lowest concentration a method can reliably distinguish from a blank under defined conditions.

Limit of quantitation (LOQ)

The lowest concentration a method can quantify with documented performance.

ND or not detected

The analyte was below the method's detection or reporting threshold.

Specification

A predefined requirement for identity, composition, strength, purity, or contaminants.

Batch

A defined quantity produced under documented manufacturing conditions.

Lot

A quantity assigned an identifier for control and traceability.

Laboratory sample ID

The identifier a laboratory assigns to submitted material.

Representative sample

Material collected under a plan designed to reflect the lot being evaluated.

Chain of custody

The documented possession and transfer of a sample or lot.

Certificate of analysis (COA)

A laboratory or quality document listing results for identified material, with dates, methods, analytes, units, and laboratory information.

Accreditation

Formal recognition that a laboratory has demonstrated competence for a defined scope.

Product-label and research terms

Net weight

The amount of product inside a package, excluding the container.

Unit count

The number of capsules, tablets, gummies, bottles, or other individual units.

Ingredient statement

The list of ingredients in the product.

Serving size

The amount declared for one serving on the package.

Catalog family or strain name

A retail name built from color, region, or trade terms and used to organize products.

In vitro

Research performed outside a living organism, such as a receptor or cell assay.

Animal study

Research in a nonhuman species used to examine mechanisms, behavior, or toxicity.

Controlled human study

Research in which investigators assign or closely control a defined material and procedure.

Observational study

Research that measures people and outcomes without assigning the exposure.

Pharmacokinetics

Measurement of how a substance is absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and eliminated over time.

Adverse event

An unwanted health occurrence reported after exposure. Timing, the specific product, other exposures, and clinical details help investigators assess the report.

Dependence

Adaptation in which reducing or stopping repeated use can produce withdrawal symptoms.

Withdrawal

Symptoms that can follow a reduction or stop after repeated use.

Commonly confused terms

• Genus and species: Mitragyna is the genus; Mitragyna speciosa is the species called kratom.
• Package amount and alkaloid amount: net weight or unit count describes the package; a separate field identifies a named compound.
• Lot and sample ID: the manufacturer identifies the lot; the laboratory identifies the submitted sample. Records connect them.
• Label specification and test result: the specification states the target; the result reports what the laboratory measured.

For direct access to the research and agency resources behind these terms, use the kratom research-source guide.

Sources and further reading

• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Mitragyna speciosa
• FAO: Wild-product terminology and management gradients
• FAO: Agroforestry definitions
• WHO: Good agricultural and collection practices for medicinal plants
• WHO ECDD (2021): kratom, mitragynine, and 7-hydroxymitragynine pre-review
• U.S. FDA: Batch, sample, specification, and quality-control terminology
• NIST: Limit of detection
• Tanna et al. (2022): controlled human kratom alkaloid pharmacokinetics
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Human-research glossary