400 Mr. J. Miers on the History of the ' Mate' Plant. 



tab. 11. f. 7. — v. v. in Montibus Organensibus, Prov. Rio de 

 Janeiro. 



The description above cited is that of the male plant ; but the 

 plant found by me had hermaphrodite flowers and fruit. In 

 this the leaves are alternate, sometimes opposite, rarely ternate, 

 very coriaceous, with immersed nerves, which are scarcely pro- 

 minent below : the upper surface is convex, sub-polished, with 

 cartilaginous margins, which are very revolute ; the midrib is 

 immersed and sulcate above, prominulent below ; the lower 

 surface of the leaves is paler and opake, being densely covered 

 with very minute, whitish, punctate scales, seen only under the 

 lens : they want the larger black dots found in the preceding 

 species. The leaves are 2-]— 2£ inches long, 10-11 lines broad, 

 on a somewhat slender petiole 6-9 lines long. The inflorescence 

 £ is axillary, consisting of 2-5 fasciculated 1 -flowered pedun- 

 cles 2-3 lines long: the calyx is 5-toothed; the five petals are 

 oblong, obtuse, rotately expanded, 3 lines long, li line broad, 

 slightly coalescent at their base by the adhesion of the alternate 

 filaments, which are as long as the petals, and in like manner 

 expanded : the ovary is oval, 5-celled, each cell having one sus- 

 pended ovule : the stigma is broadly mammiform and sub- 

 5-lobed : the drupe is oval, purplish red, fleshy, 5-7 lines long, 

 4-6 lines diam., crowned with a large conical stigma, and con- 

 taining five osseous grooved nuts, each 1 -seeded: the embryo is 

 minute, near the summit of the albumen. 



It is probable that the Ilex rivularis, Gardn., and /. affinis, 

 Gardn., both from the province of Goyaz, are theiniferous. Dr. 

 Reisseck considers the one to be a mere variety of the other ; 

 but they appear to me sufficiently distinct. In the former the 

 leaves are much broader, stouter, with a more revolute and 

 thicker cai'tilaginous margin ; the nerves are fewer, coarser, more 

 distant and more divaricated ; the petiole is shorter and broader. 

 In the latter the racemes are more elongated, more spicated, and 

 the pedicels much longer ; the flowers are nearly half the size of 

 the former, with a glabrous (not a pubescent) calyx. These 

 differences cannot be sexual, for in both my specimens the 

 flowers are $ and 4-merous. 



All the above species, excepting the last-mentioned, are extra- 

 tropical, or scarcely reach the limit of the southern solstice, and 

 they all appear to contain the peculiar principle {theine) which 

 exists in Chinese tea and in coffee. The Yerba de Paraguay, 

 like coffee, owes its refreshing qualities not only to the presence 

 of theine, but to a peculiar acid. Dr. Stenhouse found 2 per 

 cent, of theine in Congou tea, and - 75 to 1 per cent, of the 

 same principle in coffee — called also caffeine, both having been 



