Yerba mate

Rare card · No. 15724

Yerba mate or yerba maté ( YUR-bə MAH-tay), Ilex paraguariensis, is a plant species of the holly genus native to South America. The leaves of the plant can be steeped in hot water to make a beverage known as mate. Brewed cold, it is used to make tereré. Both the plant and the beverage contain caffeine. The indigenous Guaraní and some Tupi communities (whose territory covered modern Paraguay) first cultivated and consumed yerba mate prior to European colonization of the Americas. Its consumption was exclusive to the natives of two regions of the territory that became Paraguay, specifically the departments of Amambay and Alto Paraná. After the Jesuits discovered its commercialization potential, yerba mate became widespread throughout the province and even elsewhere in the Spanish Crown. The plant was named by the French botanist Augustin Saint-Hilaire. Mate is traditionally consumed in central and southern regions of South America, primarily in Paraguay, as well as in Argentina, Uruguay...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, Public domain