Carolina Ruby Yaupon Holly. This native compact Yaupon Holly has one of the largest berry crops of any Holly cultivar that I have seen. As strange as it may seem, this selection is a seedling of 'Folsom's Weeping.' Its brother and sister seedlings were tall, open, lanky and unkempt, but this one is compact with dark green foliage (unlike most I. vomitoria selections) and produces one of the most incredible berry crops that one can imagine. Since 'Schillings' is a male clone and flowers at the same time, it makes a great pollinator for this cultivar, and since 'Schillings' is one of those ubiquitous plants in the Deep South landscape, one usually doesn't have to worry about providing a male pollinator. We have had male forms located over 100' from 'Carolina Ruby' and they were still well pollinated by bees to result in a heavy fruit crop. The growth habit is compact, but not dwarf, and I am sure that it will eventually reach medium to large shrub proportions if left to its own devices. At our retail location we are keeping them pruned to about 3' and they are doing well, but it will only put on 6-8" of growth a year. The leaves of Yaupon Hollies have one of the highest caffeine contents of any known plant, and after the Boston tea party when the British cut off the colonists source of tea during and after the Revolution, many Americans got their caffeine "fixes" from tea made from the leaves of this plant. The Indians referred to it as the "black drink" and it was used by them as a ceremonial drink, where if one imbibed a large enough quantity of it, they would "regurgitate," hence the Latin specific epithet "vomitoria." It grows well in full sun to part shade and is not particular as to soil as long as it is not standing in water.
Zones 7-9
