Ilex vomitoria

[Guest guest]

> Whilst puttering down the Crystal Springs River with friends the other

day, our guide pointed out a dark green leafed tree with bright red berries. He

said that Seminole Indians used the berries for a drink and the leaves for tea.

> This tree is quite common around me but, before I brewed a batch of tea or

ate the berries, I decided to find out some more about it. This is a reply I

got from Floridata - (not too happy about the vomitoria bit inthe name) does

anyone know anything else about this plant?..............Love Penny ( I might

end up having a good stomach cleanse from the tea)

 

Penny,

 

You'll have a good *everything* cleanse from it ;-) It's related to European

holly (the pointy-leaf kind people decorate with for the winter holidays) and is

sometimes referred to as native holly or yaupon (pronounced YO-pon) holly..

It's an evergreen, just like European holly.

 

I don't know about the Seminoles, but the Timacuan Indians (some of whom may

have been my ancestors, but my family ain't talkin' so I don't know for sure)

used to use it to make what the European settlers called " the black drink. "

They would toast the leaves and then boil them up into a nasty-looking black

brew that frothed as it boiled. The warrior and shaman types in the tribe would

drink up, throw up and have nifty visions. Not my cup of tea <pun intended>

 

It's a stimulant and has caffeine in the leaves. You can just dry the leaves

(don't toast them) and make a weak tea that's pretty good. If you make it

strong (in other words, steep it for a long time or use lots of leaf per amount

of water) it is way too stimulating and you begin to get the emetic effect. The

berries are mildly poisonous -- won't kill you but will definitely make you wish

you hadn't eaten them.

 

This was probably more than you wanted to know :-)

 

Take care,

Laura (who grew up in north Florida and has a yaupon in the back yard here just

north of Atlanta, Georgia)

[Guest guest]

> A mildly stimulating beverage containing caffeine is made from the dried

and roasted leaves. They are first steeped in cold and then in boiling water.

 

Nope -- DON'T, I repeat, DON'T roast the leaves before making them into tea or

you'll barf. I speak from personal experience!! Just dry them, and the tea is

quite tasty. I'm not sure how much caffeine it contains (compared to, say,

coffee or tea). I haven't been able to find that data.

 

> They are also used to flavor ice cream and soft drinks. The plant was used

ritually by several N. American Indian tribes. The leaves were toasted over a

fire and then boiled for several hours. The resulting thick black liquid was

then drunk and this was followed by immediate vomiting. This was often used a a

purification rite prior to hunting.

 

Purification, indeed! I'll take mine in a gentler form, thank you :-)

 

Peace,

Laura