Ilex Paraguariensis. Aug. St. Hil. Mem. du Mus. d'Hist. 

 Nat. v. 9. p. 351. (1822) note. De Cand. Prodr. v. 2. 

 p. 15. Aug. St. Hil. Voy. dans le district des Diamans et 

 sur le littoral du Bresil et du Parag. v. I. p. xlj. 



If the plant here represented does not exhibit magnificent 

 or splendidly-coloured flowers, it must yet be acknowledged 

 to be a production of some public and commercial interest, 

 since it has afforded for a century and a half, the common 

 beverage of an equally large portion of the inhabitants of 

 South America, as the Tea of China in the old World. Yet, 

 strange to say, till within these few years, the plant has been 

 quite unknown to Botanists, and all the plantations of it 

 have been the property of one individual, the late celebrat- 

 ed Dr. Francia, Dictator of Paraguay. There is not here 

 space sufficient to enter into the history of this useful shrub; 

 but it is of the less consequence, as all that I have been 

 able to collect on the subject is given in the first volume of 

 the " London Journal of Botany/ 5 p. SO and following- 

 pages, accompanied by three plates, two representing the 

 plant itself, and one the MaU-cup from which the infusion is 

 drunk. In that Memoir, it is mentioned that the Glasgow 

 Botanic Garden possessed a living individual of the Para- 

 guay Tea. This has lately bloomed, in June, 1842, and it 

 is from the flowering specimen, kindly communicated by 

 my good friend, Mr. Murray, that the accompanying draw- 

 ing was made. The Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew also 

 now possess a growing plant, through the kindness of 

 Messrs. Lucombe and Pince of Exeter. It may be cultivat- 

 ed successfully in a warm greenhouse. Its native country 

 seems to be Paraguay, but extending as far North as the 

 Organ Mountains of Brazil. 



Descr. The plant here figured has attained a height of about six 

 feet. It is everywhere glabrous. The leaves are opposite, petiolated, 

 broadly obovate or nearly ovate, subcoriaceous, acuminated, serrated in 

 the upper half, rather suddenly tapering at the base into the petiole, 

 winch is little more than half an inch long. Peduncles axillary, gene- 

 rally bearing three branches, and, at the apex of each branch, an um- 

 bellate cluster of flowers. Calyx of four rounded lobes, downy on the 

 outside. Corolla rotate, pale green ; the four lobes spreading. Sta- 

 mens four, alternating with the lobes of the corolla. Germen depress- 

 ed, concave in the centre, from which arises a short style, with an 

 obscurely trifid stigma .—but, in this case, the pistil is, possibly, abor- 

 tive. 



Fig, 1. Flower and Flower-bud : — magnified. 



