Ilex vomitoria

Leaves leathery and small with serrate margins.

Yaupon is widely used in the horticultural trade as an ornamental. It is propagated both by cuttings and seed.

The following information is for the genus Ilex: Animals that eat its fruit: Black duck, Mourning dove, Bobwhite quail, Wild turkey, Catbird, Yellow-shafted flicker, Blue jay, Mockingbird, Phoebe, Robin, Yellow-bellied sapsucker (sap), Hermit thrush, Brown thrasher, Towhee, White-eyed vireo, Cedar waxwing, Pileated woodpecker, Armadillo, Black bear, Raccoon, Striped skunk, Fox squirrel, Gray squirrel, White-footed mouse, Attwater's wood rat. Animals that eat the plant: White-tailed deer (Martin et al. 1951). When green grass is scarce, cattle often browse yaupon intensely.

Called "cassinier" in Acadian French. This name is also applied to any member of the genus Crataegus which has red berries (Holmes 1990). It is found in low woods, hammocks, and sandy pine lands throughout Louisiana and in southeast, east, and south-central Texas. It ranges from Virginia south to Florida, Arkansas, and Texas and is the most abundant holly in the South (Correll and Johnston 1979). A tea made from the leaves was used by the Karankawas Indians of Texas. The tea was made from roasted leaves and used in an elaborate religious ceremony described by Newcomb (1961). This "black drink" was reportedly used as a purgative, hence its specific name: vomitoria. The leaves contain caffeine and make a tea similar to mate' of South America.

Low woods, hammocks, prairies, and sandy pine lands.