Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria)

Quick Facts

• Type: shrub
• Size: 10-20 ft tall
• Sun: full
• Water: low
• Soil: Adaptable; sand to clay
• USDA zones: 7-10

The only native North American plant with caffeine – evergreen, bird-friendly, endlessly prunable.

Shear it into hedges or let it tree-form; roasted yaupon leaves make a genuine local tea.

In the Landscape

Endlessly prunable, so use it as a sheared hedge, a privacy screen, a small multi-stemmed tree, or a specimen. The dwarf forms fit foundation plantings, and it handles salt and drought, making it a landscape workhorse.

Care & Propagation

Plant in fall or winter in full sun to part shade in any well-drained soil, and water through the first dry season. Prune in late winter before spring growth, and remove root suckers if you do not want it to spread. Remember berries only appear on female plants, so include a male nearby if you want the red winter show.

Take semi-hardwood cuttings in late summer to fall and root them with rooting hormone. Seed is slow and unreliable, needing scarification and sometimes taking two to three years to sprout; root suckers can also be dug and transplanted.

Wildlife Value

The tiny spring flowers are a good bee plant, and the dense evergreen foliage gives birds year-round shelter. Come fall, the bright red berries feed songbirds and small mammals.

🌱 Fun fact: Yaupon is the only native North American plant that contains caffeine. Native Americans brewed its leaves into the famous 'black drink' for purification rituals, and the species name vomitoria comes from the ritual vomiting involved, not from the tea being poisonous.

← Browse all Florida native plants

🌴 In Florida

Shear it into hedges or let it tree-form; roasted yaupon leaves make a genuine local tea.

🌿 Keep exploring

More Florida natives worth meeting:

• Adam's Needle (Yucca filamentosa)
• Allegheny chinquapin (Castanea pumila)
• American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)

🍽️ Also see the edible-plant profile for this same species: Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) — how to eat it and harvest notes.