yerba

plural yerbas

1. uncountableusuallyIlex paraguariensis, a species of holly native to southern South America; or the dried leaves and twigs of this plant, used to make the caffeine-rich beverage maté.

   The storehouses at Talcahuano had been burst open, and great bags of cotton, yerba, and other valuable merchandise were scattered on the shore.

   1839, Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle

   2 more examples

   This was the place at which the leaves and small sprigs of the yerba tree, when brought from the woods, were first scorched--fire being set to the logs of wood within it.

   1854, P. L. Simmonds, The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom

   His preparations for breakfast are simple, and he is ready to start out after half an hour spent in imbibing a few mates full of yerba infusion.

   1910, Various, Argentina From A British Point Of View