Ceremony, Medicine, Caffeinated Tea: Unearthing the Forgotten Faces of the North American Stimulant Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria)

Yaupon (the unfortunately named Ilex vomitoria) is a holly commonly used as yard décor in the southeast United States, but many North Americans will be surprised to learn that it is the source of a stimulant tea that has been in continuous use for nearly a millennium. Yaupon is more than a drink; it is a window into questions of identity, community belonging, and how the New World was inserted into the global economy. From Cabeza de Vaca's sixteenth-century brush with the beverage, yaupon has iterated between ceremony, medicine, and caffeinated tea as inhabitants of North America—Indigenous, enslaved, and settler colonial inhabitants of North America—have harnessed the leaf's properties to different, culturally situated aims. This article traces narratives, recipes, and medical descriptions of yaupon from contact to the present, and compares these against material and archeological records to explore differences between settler and extractive colonial encounters with Indigenous psychoactive substances (and thus indigeneity). The story of yaupon reveals contests between regimes of knowledge, the political economy of colonialisms, and the fraught intersections of identity and cuisine. Despite abundant ethnographic, documentary, and scientific evidence to the contrary, the scientific and medical literature long mislabeled yaupon as emetic. This raises questions about how knowledge is transferred and how scientific authority is constructed. I argue that indigeneity, race, and class have steered how yaupon has been understood, and help to explain why a popular caffeinated product waned at a time when the use of stimulants was increasing, and “proletarian hunger-killers” were on the rise.

Yaupon Psyllid Gyropsylla ilecis (Ashmead) (Insecta: Hemiptera: Aphalaridae)

The yaupon psyllid, Gyropsylla ilecis (Ashmead), is a native insect of the family Psyllidae, order Hemiptera (Figure 1). The insect is inconspicuous during most of the year, but the leaf galls it produces in spring are more easily observed. Nymphs feed on the new growth of yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria, causing leaves to deform into a protective gall. The yaupon holly, native to the southeastern United States, is used as an ornamental tree or shrub and has also been used for centuries to produce a caffeinated, tea-like beverage. The yaupon psyllid is considered a minor aesthetic pest due to the unsightly presence of galls and some stunting of twigs. However, yaupon holly is rarely severely damaged by this insect.

Yaupon Holly Culture and Pest Management for Tea Production and Ornamental Use

Yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria Aiton, is an evergreen woody plant native to the southeastern United States. The species is widely used as a landscape ornamental plant because it tolerates a wide range of soil and environmental conditions, is available in various forms, and attracts wildlife, especially native birds. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in cultivating the plant for the caffeinated beverages that can be made from its leaves. This 8-page fact sheet written by Matthew A. Borden, Mark A. Wilhelm, and Adam G. Dale and published by the UF/IFAS Entomology and Nematology Department provides a guide to managing yaupon holly and protecting it from pests. It will be useful to both commercial growers and homeowners interested in growing this beautiful and useful plant.https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in2199

Native and Edible Ornamental Plant Congeners Enhance Ecosystem Services Through Key Pest Avoidance and Multifunctionality in Residential Landscapes

Tea scale, Fiorinia theae Green (Hemiptera: Diaspididae), has long been one of the most important pests of Ilex and Camellia plants, particularly in the southeastern United States. This exotic armored scale insect reduces host plant health and function, and often requires insecticide use, which poses risks to nontarget organisms. While the use of Ilex (Aquifoliales: Aquifoliaceae) and Camellia (Ericales: Theaceae) spp. as landscape ornamentals for aesthetic function is firmly established, we have a poor understanding of species-level susceptibility to F. theae. Additionally, two species, Ilex vomitoria Ait. and Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze are emerging tisane- and tea-producing commodities in the region, respectively. We propose that these consumable plants may be well-suited alternatives to their traditionally used ornamental congeners in residential landscapes where they may provide enhanced ecosystem services. However, the potential impact of key pests, like F. theae, on these species should be evaluated to anticipate pest pressure that may undermine or offset benefits. In this study, we examine six species within the known host range of tea scale, comparing nonnative I. cornuta Lindl. ‘Dwarf Burford,’ C. japonica L., C. sasanqua Thunb., and C. sinensis, along with native I. opaca Ait. and I. vomitoria. We found that plant species show a wide range of susceptibility to F. theae and associated damage, with the two native Ilex species and tea-producing C. sinensis displaying the least susceptibility. By reducing the impact of a key pest and considering other ecosystem service traits, these results may help guide more sustainable plant selection decisions where the goal is to integrate native and edible plants into residential landscapes.

Health Benefits of Bioactive Compounds from the Genus Ilex, a Source of Traditional Caffeinated Beverages

Tea and coffee are caffeinated beverages commonly consumed around the world in daily life. Tea from Camellia sinensis is widely available and is a good source of caffeine and other bioactive compounds (e.g., polyphenols and carotenoids). Other tea-like beverages, such as those from the genus Ilex, the large-leaved Kudingcha (Ilex latifolia Thunb and Ilex kudingcha C.J. Tseng), Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis A. St.-Hil), Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria), and Guayusa (Ilex guayusa Loes) are also traditional drinks, with lesser overall usage, but have attracted much recent attention and have been subjected to further study. This review summarizes the distribution, composition, and health benefits of caffeinated beverages from the genus Ilex. Plants of this genus mainly contain polyphenols and alkaloids, and show diverse health benefits, which, as well as supporting their further popularization as beverages, may also lead to potential applications in the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical industries.

Yaupon, Ilex vomitoria

Yaupon is found throughout Florida south to Lake Okeechobee and more broadly throughout the southeast west to Texas and east to North Carolina. The leaves and small twigs of yaupon contain caffeine, and yaupon teas have been consumed by humans for centuries. The fruits and flowers of yaupon attract wildlife, especially birds and pollinators, and it is a larval host plant for Henry’s elfin butterfly (Callophrys henrici) (Lotts and Naberhaus 2017). Yaupon is used in landscaping and can tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions. Several cultivars are available in the horticultural industry. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/sg172 This publication is derived from information in SGEB-75/SG156, Dune Restoration and Enhancement for the Florida Panhandle, by Debbie Miller, Mack Thetford, Christina Verlinde, Gabriel Campbell, and Ashlynn Smith. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/sg156.

Efficacy and Estimated Annual Cost of Common Weed Control Methods in Landscape Planting Beds

Organic mulch is commonly used in landscape planting beds to improve plant growth and reduce competition from weed species. Although many different mulch materials have been evaluated in landscape, forestry, or agricultural settings, there have been no previous reports concerning the maintenance costs associated with different mulch materials from a weed control perspective. Trials were conducted at two locations in Florida to estimate the annual maintenance costs associated with pine bark nuggets (bark derived from pine species not specified) and pine straw mulch [mix of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and slash pine (Pinus taeda) needles] with and without the use of a granular preemergence herbicide when maintained at similar depths in schilling’s holly (Ilex vomitoria ‘Schilling’s Dwarf’) shrub beds and asiatic jasmine (Trachelospermum asiaticum ‘Minima’) groundcover beds. Weed coverage and residual mulch depth were tracked over time, with maximum and minimum thresholds (20% and 2 inches, respectively) set as triggers for maintenance activities. Results showed that the addition of herbicide (trifluralin + isoxaben) had little to no impact on weeding frequency or time when plots were mulched, but did reduce hand weeding frequency and time compared with nontreated, nonmulched plots. Both mulch materials used alone reduced hand weeding frequency and time compared with herbicide-only treatments. Although results varied by bed type and location, pine bark generally provided greater weed control compared with pine straw and required fewer mulch additions and less mulch by volume. Results from this study suggests that using pine bark nuggets as mulch may result in lower maintenance costs and weed pressure compared with pine straw when both are applied and maintained at 2-inch depths.