Ilex vomitoria (Yaupon)

Slow-growing and attractive, Ilex vomitoria (Yaupon) is an upright, densely branching, evergreen shrub or small tree with leathery, lustrous, dark green leaves, 1.5 in. long (4 cm), adorned with toothed margins. Ilex vomitoria is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate trees. It produces abundant small greenish-white flowers in spring that are followed by prodigious amounts of attractive bright red berries on pollinated female plants. Extremely showy, they ripen in fall, persist into winter, and enliven the winter landscape unless they are devoured by birds. Mammals eat the fruit as well, and the flowers attract insects. The leaves and twigs contain caffeine, and Native Americans used them to prepare tea, which they drank in large quantities ceremonially and then vomited back up, hence the species’ name. Picturesque and providing excellent year-round interest, Yaupon is a popular landscape plant often trimmed into an evergreen hedge. The fruiting branches are popular Christmas decorations. Both male and female plants are needed to produce attractive red berries.

• Grows up to 10-20 ft. tall (300-600 cm) and 8-12 ft. wide (240-360 cm).
• A full sun to part shade lover, this plant is best grown in average, medium to wet soils. Tolerant to a wide range of soil conditions, including dry soil, and acid to alkaline soil. Protect plants from desiccating winter sun and winds. Tolerates drought and salt spray.
• Perfect as a hedge, screen, windbreak, or topiary. The red-fruited branches make lovely home decorations.
• Keep an eye out for holly leaf miner, spider mites, whitefly, scale, leaf spot, leaf rot, tar spot, and powdery mildew.
• Prune in winter if needed. Promptly remove root suckers unless naturalization is desired.
• Propagate by seed, semi-hardwood cuttings. Seeds germinate the best if planted immediately after collection. Semi-hardwood cuttings taken in late fall can be made to root.
• Native to the southeastern United States, from Virginia to Florida, Arkansas, and Texas, and to Mexico. It is found on coastal dunes, maritime forests, upland woodlands of various mixtures, and pine flatwoods. For the most part, Yaupon inhabits well-drained sites but also occurs on streambanks, in wet woodlands, and floodplains.