8 RiiSsian Natural History Expedition iri Brazil, 



Paraguay Tea, and the Tea Tree of Paraguay , the Plex paragu aiensis, 

 of the botanist St. Hilaire. {fig. 1 .) — In M. 

 Faldermann's interesting communication (in 

 Vol. IV. p. 394 — 403.) on the plants of Brazil, 

 mention is several times made of the tea tree of 

 Paraguay. On this account we beg to present 

 the following interesting extract, relating to it, 

 which is taken from the fourth volume of the 

 Seminario de Buenos Ayres of Azara. M. Fal- 

 dermann remarks (p. 401.) that it should be 

 spelled tea of Paraquay, and /Mex paraquaien- 

 sisj but this may be deemed doubtful out of 

 Russia, where q and g are said to be often con- 

 vertible: — 



" The tea tree of Paraguay, called in the 

 country yerva mate, is one of the most useful 

 trees in Paraguay, to which it is nearly peculiar 

 It is found growing spontaneously, intermingled 

 with the other native trees, in the forests which 

 cover the banks of the rivers and streams which fall into the Parana and 

 Uruguay, as well as the sources of the rivers Ipane and Jejui. The tree 

 is large, and often equals in size the common orange tree ; but in the places 

 where the leaf is regularly gathered, it becomes stunted, from the limbs 

 being cut every two or three years, but not oftener, owing to an opinion 

 that this time is requisite to season the leaves, which do not fall off in 

 winter. The trunk is about a foot in diameter ; the bark is smooth and 

 whitish ; the boughs, which spring upwards like those of the laurel, are leafy 

 and tufted. The leaf is elliptic, cuneiform, from 4 to 5 in. long; thick, 

 glossy, crenated, of a dark green above, and paler below. The petiole is 

 of a dark red , and half an inch long. Its flowers are produced in umbels 

 of thirty or forty flowers each, with four petals, with the same number of 

 stamens. The berry is red, very smooth, and of the size of a small pea. 



" The method of preparing the leaves is as follows : — A hurdle of 

 long poles is constructed, in the form of a cylindrical vault, which they call 

 barbaqua ; under this a large fire is made, and the branches being placed 

 on the hurdle remain there till the leaves are sufficiently dry. After this 

 they remove the fire ; and on the hard and hot platform, after being swept 

 clean, they throw the branches, which they beat to separate the leaves. 

 In this each is assisted by a boy, called a quayno, who receives the pro- 

 portion of 25 lbs. of leaves for every bundle of branches he cleans. 



" The leaves being separated from the branches, and prepared sufficiently 

 are next put into a large bag made of hides, which has the four upper 

 corners fixed to four large stakes placed in the ground, fitted to support a 

 considerable weight ; into this they put the leaves, and beat them down 

 with a pole, in the same way as the negroes of the West Indies pack their 

 cotton bags. When the bag is filled and packed hard, the mouth is sewed 

 up; and in this state, without farther preparation, the leaves are fit for use, 

 but not considered as seasoned till they are a few months old. 



" We find, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, that this plant 

 was in common use throughout Paraguay ; and there can be no doubt but 

 the Indians of Monday taught it to the conquerors, from their being the 

 natives who lived in the vicinity of the forests. The quantity used by a 

 person who is fond of it is an ounce. The amount daily gathered by a la- 

 bourer is from four to twelve, and sometimes more, arrobas. There are 

 among the Creoles or mestizoes many who falsely charge the Paraguayans 

 with having exterminated the Indians by making them work at this labour. 



These leaves are used in Paraguay, La Plata, Peru, and Quito, at all 

 hours of the day, by putting a handfiil into a kind of tea-pot called mate 

 (which has given its name to the herb), and from the spout of this the hot 



