Tas. 7310. 
ILEX conocarpa. 
Native of Brazil. 
Nat. Ord. Intcinza, 
Genus Itex, Linn.; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. i. p. 356.) 
Tex conocarpa; frutex 6-pedalis, ramulis robustis apice cum pedunculis 
cealycibusque subtiliter puberulis sulcatis, foliis lanceolatis acuminatis 
serrulatis in petiolum validum angustatis coriaceis glaberrimis subtus 
pallidioribus nigro-punctulatis, nervis laterabilus 10-12 prominulis 
reticulatis, spicis solitariis v. glomeratis cylindraceis crassis densifloris 
petiolum superantibus v. abbreviatis, masculis ¢-1} lin. longis, foemineis 
brevioribus, floribus tetrameris, masculis 2-2} in. diam. foem. minoribus, 
calycis lobis rotundatis, staminibus corolla lobis paullo brevioribus, 
drupa 2% lin. longa ovoideo-conica, stigmate depresse mamillari 
coronata. 
I le Reiss, in Mart. Fl. Bras. vol. xi. pars i. p. 66, t. xiii. f. 14 
eaf). 
Ilex conocarpa is an interesting plant economically, as 
being one of that extensive Brazilian genus which yields a 
“Maté,” or Paraguay tea, though to what extent this is 
used, or whether as a substitute for, or an adulteration of 
the true “ Maté,” I have no means of ascertaining. Of 
the “Maté” yielding Ilexes, it is stated in Martius’ 
“Flora,” l.c. p. 128, that I. theezans, diuretica, sorbilis, 
domestica, pseudothea, medica, and conocarpa, are, together 
with Villarezia mucronata, all confounded in Brazil under 
the name of Congonha or Gongonha, and are worthy of 
Mention as similar or equal to the true J. paraguensis,* in 
virtues and uses, but that they have not been chemically 
vestigated. All are indigenous in Brazil, none being 
described as cultivated, and they belong some to one, some 
* I. paraguariensis is the name origi lly (in 1822) given to the species by 
St. Hilaire, in Mem. du Mus. vol. ix. (1822) p. 351, no doubt in reference to the 
town of Paraguari, in Paraguay; but as it was abandoned by its author and re- 
Placed by that of I. Mate in 1824, Lambert's I. paraguensts, also published 
n 1824, may be adopted in preference, as being much earlier than the usually 
adopted paraguayensis, 
Aveust Isr, 1893. 
