Ilex paraguariensis (Paraguay tea)

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Ilex paraguariensis, photographed by Benjamin Bender — fig. a Benjamin Bender, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-11-09 / obs. 170573058

Ilex paraguariensis, photographed by Kahio Tiberio Mazon — fig. b Kahio Tiberio Mazon, CC0 1.0 / obs. 163778204

Ilex paraguariensis, photographed by Hugo Hulsberg — fig. c Hugo Hulsberg, CC0 1.0 / obs. 170728812

Ilex paraguariensis, photographed by Diego Carús — fig. d Diego Carús, CC0 1.0 / obs. 163384783

Ilex paraguariensis, photographed by Paisaje Protegido Paso Centurión y Sierra de Ríos — fig. e Paisaje Protegido Paso Centurión y Sierra de Ríos, CC0 1.0 / obs. 204922565

Ilex paraguariensis, photographed by B. Phalan — fig. f B. Phalan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190667495

Ilex paraguariensis, photographed by William G. Borges — fig. g William G. Borges, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 97827314

Ilex paraguariensis, photographed by Gabriel Laufer — fig. h Gabriel Laufer, CC0 1.0 / obs. 61328817

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 7 botanical countries

Native distribution of Ilex paraguariensis, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.

Region	TDWG code	Continent
Argentina Northeast	AGE	SOUTHERN AMERICA
Brazil Northeast	BZE
Brazil South	BZS
Brazil Southeast	BZL
Brazil West-Central	BZC
Paraguay	PAR
Uruguay	URU

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 25 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

Ilex bonplandiana Münter
Ilex congonhas Liais
Ilex curitibensis Miers
Ilex domestica Reissek
Ilex domestica var. glabra Reissek
Ilex domestica var. pubescens Reissek
Ilex mate A.St.-Hil.
Ilex paraguariensis f. confusa Loes.
Ilex paraguariensis f. dasyprionata Loes.
Ilex paraguariensis f. domestica (Reissek) Loes.
Ilex paraguariensis f. latifolia (Reissek) Chodat
Ilex paraguariensis f. microphylla Reissek
Ilex paraguariensis f. parvifolia Chodat
Ilex paraguariensis f. pubescens (Reissek) Loes.
Ilex paraguariensis f. sorbilis (Reissek) Loes.
Ilex paraguariensis var. acutifolia Mart.
Ilex paraguariensis var. angustifolia Reissek
Ilex paraguariensis var. euneura Loes.
Ilex paraguariensis var. guaranina Loes.
Ilex paraguariensis var. latifolia Reissek
Ilex paraguariensis var. ulei Loes.
Ilex paraguayensis Hook.
Ilex sorbitis Reissek
Ilex theaezans Bonpl. ex Miers

and 1 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.