By Bill Ward
Published in The Boerne Star on January 6, 2006
Operation NICE! (Natives Instead of the Common Exotics!) Plant of the Month for January is yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria). It’s a wonder we have taken so long to choose this shrub or small tree as a Plant of the Month, because yaupon holly is the perfect NICE! landscape plant.
It is evergreen, can thrive in shade or sun, tolerates a variety of soils and drainage conditions and is drought-tolerant once it is established. On top of all that, the female yaupon holly produces showy red berries.
According to Sally Wasowski (“Native Texas Plants, Landscaping Region by Region”), yaupon holly is one of the most used native plants all across Texas and is “suited to almost any landscape – residential or commercial.”
As Paul Cox and Patty Leslie state in “Texas Trees -a Friendly Guide,” the shiny dark-green foliage, contrasting the light-colored bark, and bright-red fruit during the winter make this plant very popular.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife publication “Texas Wildscapes Gardening for Wildlife” recommends yaupon as a good understory tree or accent tree that will attract several species of birds. Bobwhite, doves, robins, cedar waxwings, bluebirds, jays and mockingbirds are some of the birds that feed on the berries. It also is a good nest tree.
Yaupon holly grows into small trees 15-25 feet tall, usually with several trunks. The small glossy leaves have rounded teeth, not spiny teeth as the name “holly” might suggest.
During the spring, tiny white flowers are clustered on branchlets of the previous year. Male and female plants have different flowers, and only the female plants produce the red berries.
This plant is the most common holly in Texas. It grows naturally from Southeast Texas into Central Texas, as well as in Northeast Texas and the eastern Edwards Plateau. Reportedly, it also has been naturalized in parts of North Texas.
Yaupon is much less common in this area than its cousin the deciduous holly or possum haw (Ilex decidua).
Yaupon holly may be deer resistant. I have not tempted the deer of our subdivision with an unfenced yaupon, but some friends tell me that deer do not browse yaupons in their yards.
This holly is readily available at local nurseries. One variety that is said to produce abundant fruit is called “Pride of Houston.”
The Boerne chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas provides free planting and care instructions for yaupon holly at nurseries participating in Operation NICE! (Hill Country African Violets and Nursery, Barkley’s Nursery Center and Maldonado Landscape and Nursery).
My curiosity was piqued by yaupon holly’s unpleasant-sounding species name vomitoria. Apparently, most kinds of hollies have poisonous berries that can cause diarrhea and vomiting.
Robert Vines (“Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Plants of the Southwest”) claims that vomitoria refers to the use of yaupon as a medicine. Cox and Leslie tell that American Indians used yaupon holly leaves to make “Black Drink,” which they used for a ritualistic purging ceremony.
Sounds to me as if all parts of the yaupon holly are best kept out of the mouth.
