MINOR VEGETABLE PRODUCTS AND THEIR SOURCES. 193 
nin. Physiologists are not thoroughly agreed as to the effects of tea 
upon the human system. <A recent medical opinion maintains that the 
use of tea increases the assimilation of food, both of the flesh-forming 
and heat-forming kinds, and that with abundance of food it must pro- 
mote nutrition, while in the absence of sufficient food it increases the 
waste of the body. 
Paraguay tea, or Yerba de mate, Ilex Paraguayensis, (Aquifoliacec.)— 
The leaves of this South American tree are used in furnishing the 
beverage, yerbamate. They yield the same active bitter principle called 
theine which is found in the leaf of the Chinese tea plant, afd form a 
commercial product that occupies the same important position in the 
domestic economy of South America as the famed China plant does 
in this country, and is consumed to the extent of several thousand tons 
annually. The leaves are prepared by drying and roasting, not in the 
fashion of making Chinese teas, but by cutting large branches from the 
trees, which are placed on hurdles over wood fires, and kept there until 
the leaves are sufficiently roasted, when they are removed and placed 
on a hard floor, and the dried leaves knocked off by beating the branches 
with sticks. The leaves are then gathered up, reduced to powder in 
wooden mills, and packed formarket. This tea is often packed in sacks 
made of raw hides, which are sewed together in a square form. The 
powdered leaves are pressed into the sacks with great force, and when 
fall they are sewed up and exposed to the sun, where the hide dries and 
tightens over the contents, forming a package nearly as hard and heavy 
as stone. 
There are several grades or sorts of mate tea in the South American 
markets, valued according to the age of the leaf.and the modes of pre- 
paration. It is prepared for use by placing a small quantity of the 
powder in a cup, and pouring boiling water over it; the decoction is 
quaifed or sucked through a bombilla, or tube having a bulb perforated 
with minute holes. It has an agreeable, slightly aromatic odor, rather 
bitter to the taste, but very refreshing and restorative to the body after 
undergoing great fatigue. It is highly relished by travelers, and it is 
almost impossible for those who become accustomed to its use to discon- 
tinue it. It acts in some degree as an aperient and diuretic, and, if 
taken in over-doses, it occasions diseases similar to those produced by 
strong liquors. 
It is supposed that there are several species of Dex, the leaves of 
which are gathered for tea. IJlex theezans, Ilex gongonha, and Ilex amara 
are known to be used in Brazil and other places. The Yerba, produced 
by, and known to, the Brazilians as Herva de Palmeira, is specially re- 
nowned for its excellent qualities. 
Faham or orchid tea.—The plant yielding this tea is Angraecum fra- 
grans, an epiphytal orchid of the Island of Bourbon, where it is used 
under the name of Faham. It has been introduced and used as a bev- 
erage in France and other European countries. In taste it differs 
greatly from that of the Chinese tea, having an aroma of great delicacy, 
and producing an agreeable perfumery similar to that of the tonquin 
bean. It has tonic and digestive qualities; and it is recorded that in 
the aromatic principle of the plant there is a diffusible stimulant capa- 
ble of deadening nervous sensibility; in the bitter principle an excel- 
lent stimulant to revive the strength of the nutritive organs; and in 
the mucilage a demulcent to relax the tissues. 
Jesuits’ tea.—This is the leaf of Psoralea glandulosa, (Leguminose,) 
a native of Chili—a small shrubby plant. The infusion of the 
leaves is slightly aromatic, and is valued_more for its medicinal qual- 
13 A 
