ILEX OPACA.—AMERICAN HOLLY. Related Species: Ilex paraguayensis

Ilex paraguayensis, St. Hilaire; Argentine Republic, and Brazil.—This tree yields Paraguay tea or Yerba maté, St. Bartholomew's tea or Jesuit's tea, which is consumed in immense quantities in South America in place of Chinese tea. Its effects are said to more nearly resemble coca than tea. The plant grows along water courses, and from December to August collecting parties gather the leaves which, after a preparatory torrification to enhance their aroma, are powdered and enter into commerce and are sold to be prepared by infusion like common tea. Their chief constituent is caffeine, which exists in quantities varying from 0.2 per cent to 1.8 per cent, the average yield (Peckolt) being 0.64 per cent. Tannin (matetannic acid) is present in amounts of from 10 to 16 per cent (A. Robbins, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1878, p. 273). The leaves are most aromatic just before the fruit is ripe. Volatile oil, a stearopten, and a crystallizable acid, mateviridic acid, have also been obtained from the leaves. The infusion of Paraguay tea is diuretic and sudorific, and in excessive doses acts as a drastic purgative. (For an interesting article on maté or Paraguay tea, see Th. Peckolt, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1883, p. 570.)