Read about the qualities of this amazing herb from South America

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The yerba mate plant, which is really a tree, is an evergreen from the Holly family that grows in the subtropical forests of South America. The French botanist Auguste de Saint Hilaire studied the plant during his travels through Brazil and gave it its scientific name in 1822. He collected samples of the tree from the region of Curitiba, in the state of Paraná, Brazil, and sent them to the Paris Museum of Natural History. During transportation, the labels were accidentally traded with samples of similar species collected from Paraguay. Mate therefore was catalogued as Ilex Paraguariensis.

That is not the only polemic term related to the “herb” for even the fact of calling it an herb, “Erva”, or “Yerba” is also erroneous. The definition of Herb is: A plant whose stem does not produce woody, persistent tissue and generally dies back at the end of each growing season or: any of various often aromatic plants used especially in medicine or as seasoning. Mate goes against both definitions, notwithstanding it is still called an herb by the natives, due to its invigorating power.

The yerba mate tree, from the Aquifoliacae family, stands between 6 to 8 meters tall, being able to reach even 15 meters. There are many different species in the family, the Ilex gender having more than 550, the holly plant included, 280 species found in South America, 60 of which occur in southern Brazil. Only 3 species though are used in the mate industry (I. paraguariensis, I. angustifolia, I. amara), Ilex Paraguariensis being the most important. The mate plant, due to the widespread genetic variety of the Ilex family, may have white or light purple stems, and thick waxy leaves that may present dented or smooth edges.

Another interesting fact about mate is the name itself. The word “mate” comes from “Matti” in Quichuá, the language of the Incas in Peru, and it actually means “gourd”. During the eighteenth century, the Vice-kingdom of Peru was the greatest importer and consumer of mate, acquiring it from the Jesuit missions in Guayrá, now Southern Brazil and some of Paraguay. The Spanish used the Quichuá term to denominate the drinking of the tea in the “matti” or gourd. The term found its way back to Guayrá, where the plant took on the name in substitution of the Guarani name: Caá, for the herb and Caáiguá (Caá – herb, I – water, guá – gourd) for the drink. When we say mate, therefore, we are not referring solely to the herb, but to the drinking of mate in a gourd, a tradition that is also called: Chimarrão (she-ma-huh-oo).