[Illustration: YAUPON]
Trees or shrubs, mostly evergreen; sepals 3-6; petals 4-5; stamens 4-5,
opposite petals; carpels 3 or more; fruit a drupe.
Yaupon. Cassine (_Ilex vomitoria_) with dark glossy evergreen leaves and
red berries forms lovely hedges along the highways and fields and is
scattered through woods in Central and East Texas, ranging to Virginia.
The berries, an excellent bird food, usually remain on the shrubs until
the small white flowers appear in late March or April. The plant forms a
dense widely-branched shrub, which is of slow growth and very desirable
for hedges. As the berries are produced on separate bushes from the
pollen-bearing flowers, care should be taken to plant those producing
berries if ornamental shrubs are desired. Cassine tea is made from the
leaves, but it is bitter and contains much caffein and tannin. Like the
American holly, which grows in East Texas, the yaupon is being
exterminated for Christmas decorations. The deciduous holly (_Ilex
decidua_) has larger leaves, which are shed in the early fall, and
larger orange-red berries, which remain on the shrub or tree until late
winter.