Yerba mate

This article is about the plant. For the beverage, see Mate (drink).
"Yerba" redirects here. For the US city, see Yerba, West Virginia. For the herbs, see Yerba buena. For other places, see Yerba Buena.

Yerba mate
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Aquifoliales
Family: Aquifoliaceae
Genus: Ilex
Species:
I. paraguariensis
Binomial name
Ilex paraguariensis
Native range of Ilex paraguaiensis

Yerba mate or yerba-maté[2] (Ilex paraguariensis; from Spanish [ˈɟʝeɾβa ˈmate]; Portuguese: erva-mate, Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈɛɾvɐ ˈmatɨ] or [ˈɛʁvɐ ˈmatʃi]; Guarani: ka'a, IPA: [kaʔa]) is a plant species of the holly genus Ilex native to South America.[3] It was named by the French botanist Augustin Saint-Hilaire.[4] 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 present-day Paraguay) first cultivated and consumed yerba mate prior to European colonization of the Americas. Its consumption was exclusive to the natives of only two regions of the territory that today is Paraguay, more specifically the departments of Amambay and Alto Paraná.[5][6] After the Jesuits discovered its commercialization potential, yerba mate became widespread throughout the province and even elsewhere in the Spanish Crown.[6]

Mate is traditionally consumed in central and southern regions of South America, primarily in Paraguay, as well as in Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Brazil, the Gran Chaco of Bolivia, and Southern Chile.[7] It has also become popular in the Druze and Alawite community in the Levant, especially in Syria and Lebanon, where it is imported from Paraguay and Argentina, thanks to 19th-century Syrian immigrants to Argentina.[8] Yerba mate can now be found worldwide in various energy drinks as well as being sold as a bottled or canned iced tea.

  1. ^ World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1998). "Ilex paraguariensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 1998: e.T32982A9740718. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1998.RLTS.T32982A9740718.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ "yerba". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
    "yerba". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021.
    "yerba maté". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
    "yerba maté". CollinsDictionary.com. HarperCollins.
    "yerba maté". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
  3. ^ "ITIS Report". itis.gov. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  4. ^ "Index of Botanists". harvard.edu. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  5. ^ Del Techo, Ximénez, Dobrizhoffer. p. 40., Nicolás; Bartolomé, Martín (1967). Tres encuentros con América. Editorial del Centenario.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ a b Cervantes, Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de. "En busca del hueso perdido : (tratado de paraguayología) / Helio Vera". Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  7. ^ World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1998). "Ilex paraguariensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 1998: e.T32982A9740718. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1998.RLTS.T32982A9740718.en.
  8. ^ "Argentina's 'yerba mate' crunch". globalpost.com. Retrieved 30 April 2015.