Yerba Mate Botany and Ecology
Ilex paraguariensis
Yerba Mate is known to botanists as Ilex paraguariensis. This Latin name literally means "Paraguayan holly." That's right, yerba mate is a type of holly. It naturally grows as a spindly tree in the intermediate layer of the forest. Imagine a tree as tall as a flowering dogwood, with large waxy leaves like a rhododendron's. Farmers generally prune their yerba mate trees to keep them short and bushy, so they are easier to harvest.
The Bright Red Berry
Yerba Mate produces clusters of white flowers that mature into bright red berries. For years, botanists tried and failed to get the berries to sprout in other lands. One of the reasons that yerba mate never grew popular in Europe during the colonial era was that yerba mate was difficult to cultivate beyond its native range. Eventually, local Guarani people showed the botanists how the berries sprouted once they were eaten by toucans. It turned out that the toucans had acids in their digestive tracts that broke down the seeds' hard outer coatings, making them ready to sprout.
The Matto Grosso
Yerba Mate is a major component of the endangered Matto Grosso, or Interior Atlantic Forest type. The Matto Grosso is home to the toucan, the jaguar, and the coati, among a thousand lesser-known but no less wonderful endemic creatures. Sustainable yerba mate cultivation represents the last best chance to preserve this unique biological treasure trove.
Click here to learn more about how shade-grown yerba mate helps bird diversity.
Click here to learn more about how organic yerba mate cultivation can rehabilitate degraded lands.