Ilex paraguariensis, 
THE PARAGUAY TEA. 
Synonymes. 
Bex paraguayensis, 
Ilex paraguariensis, 
Mate, 
The Peragua, Mate, 
Yerba mate, Yerba de palos, 
Gongonha, 
Caa, 
Paraguay Tea, Mate, 
Lambert, Monograph of the Genus Pinus. 
St. Hilaire, Histoire des Plantes du Bresn 
De Candolle, Prodromus. 
France. 
Italy. 
Spain and Spanish America. 
Brazil. 
Guarani Indians. 
Britain and Anglo-America. 
Derivations. The word Mali, is applied by the South American Spaniards, to the cup or vessel from which the hot liquid is 
imbibed; whence the name of the herb. The Spanish name, Yerba de palos, signifies Tree-herb. 
Engravings. Lambert, Monograph of the Genus Pinus, pi. ii. ; Hooker, London Journal of Botany, vol. i., pi. 1 ; Loudon, 
Arboretum Britannicum, vol. ii., figure 189; and the figures below. 
Specific 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. parvifolium. Small-leaved Paraguay Tea. 
2. I. p. angustifolium. Narroiv-leaved Paraguay Tea. Both of these varieties 
are cultivated in the botanic garden at Rio Janeiro, and are somewhat exten- 
