Herbicides can cause negative effects on the morphophysiological characteristics of agricultural crops when proper knowledge about their selectivity is not available. For erva-mate plantations, herbicides which are registered and recommended are scarce. In this sense, this study was carried out to evaluate the selectivity of herbicides applied in different doses to erva-mate. The experiment was installed in a greenhouse at the Federal University of Fronteira Sul (UFFS), Campus Erechim, state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil. The experimental design was a randomized block, arranged in a 7 × 4 factorial scheme, with four replications. Factor A comprised the herbicides (tembotrione, chlorimuron-ethyl, oxyfluorfen, sethoxydim + diclosulam, metsulfuron-methyl, Fomesafen + fluazifop-p-butyl and nicosulfuron) and factor B comprised the doses of these herbicides (0, 0.5, 1 and 2‑fold the recommended dose for other crops, on the respective herbicide labels). The phytotoxicity, plant height, stem diameter, dry mass of shoots and roots, chlorophyll content, sub-stomatal CO2 concentration, photosynthetic rate, CO2 consumed, stomatal conductance of water vapors, transpiration rate, and water use efficiency were assessed. Oxyfluorfen, fomesafen + fluazifop-p-butyl and nicosulfuron affected the morphophysiological characteristics of erva-mate plants at all doses tested. The chlorimuron-ethyl and sethoxydim + diclosulam were presented as being potential to be used in erva-mate plantations until 2‑fold the label dose, because they present low plant toxicity and reduced interference in the morphophysiological characteristics of erva-mate. Key words: Chlorimuron-ethyl, alternative crop, chemical management.