Ilex vomitoria ‘Shadow's Hardy Female'

Shadow's Hardy Female Yaupon Holly. This selection was made by Hoskin Shadow of Winchester, TN, for its exceptional dark green foliage, good red berry crop and more cold hardiness than the species. Making it a zone hardier than the species normally is. It will make a handsome large shrub or multi-stem small tree. It grows best in part shade to full sun. 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 American Revolution, many Americans got their caffeine "fix" 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."

Zones 6-9