Ilex paragiiariensis, 

 THE PARAGUAY TEA. 



Synonymes. 



Hex paraguayensis, 



Hex paraguariensis, 



Mate, 



The Peragua, IMate, 



Yerba mate, Yerba de palos, 



Gongonha, 



Caa, 



Paraguay Tea,. Mate, 



Lambert, Monograph of the Genus Pinus. 



St. Hilaire, Histoire des Plantes du Bresu. 



De Candolle, Prodromus. 



France. 



Italy. 



Spain and Spanish America. 



Brazil. 



Goarani Indians. 



Britain and A.nglo-A.merica. 



Derivations. The word Maid, is applied by the South American Spaniards, to the cup or vessel from which the hot liquid ia 

 imbibed ; wiience the name of the herb. The Spanish name, Yerba de palos, signifies Tree-herb. 



Engravings. Lambert, Monograph of the Genus Pinus, pi. ii. ; Hooker, Londoa Journal of Botany, vol. i., pi. 1 ; Loudon, 

 Arboretum Britannicum, vol. ii., figure 189; and the figures below. 



SperAfic Characters. Evergreen. Leaves glabrous, lanceolately-cuneated, oblong-oval, obtuse, remotely 

 serrated. Drupes with persistent calyxes crowned with 4-lobed stigmas. 



Description. 



HE Ilex paragua- 

 riensis, when un- 

 obstructed in its 

 growth, usually at- 

 tains a height of twenty or thirty feet, with a 

 trunk sometimes a foot or more in diameter. 

 In places, however, where the leaf is regu- 

 larly gathered, it becomes stunted, from the 

 branches being cut every two or three years, 

 but not oftener, owing to an opinion that this 

 time is requisite to season the leaves, which 

 remain, during winter, upon the trees. The 

 bark of the trunk is smooth, shining, and 

 whitish; and the boughs, which spring up- 

 wards like those of the laurel, are leafy and 

 tufted. The leaves are elliptic, cuneiform, 

 from four to five inches long; thick, glossy, 

 crenated, of a dark-green above, and paler 

 below. The petioles are of a dark-red, and 

 about half an inch in length. The flowers, 

 which appear in October and November, in its native country, are produced in 

 umbels of thirty or forty florets each, with four whitish petals, and with the 

 same number of stamens. The berries are red, very smooth, about the size of 

 small peas, and containing four nuts or seeds. 



Varieties. The two following races usually considered as species, and 

 described under the name of Ilex gongonha, may be regarded only as varieties 

 of the same plant : 



1. I. p. PAKViFOLiuM. Small-leaved Paraguay Tea. 



2. I. p. ANGUsTiFOLiuM. Narrow-leaved Paraguay Tca. Both of these varieties 

 are cultivated in the botanic garden at Rio Janeiro, and are somewhat exten- 



