Our state has eleven native species of holly (Ilex), plus many landscape hybrids. Hollies, in the form of shrubs and small trees, are found in almost every plant community from coastal scrub, tropical hammocks, pine flatwoods to river floodplains. Six of these are relatively common in Putnam County. For example, gallberry is native to our extensive pine flatwoods landscapes and the flowers are important for pollinators and honey producers. The possum haw is a wetland/floodplain tree that blooms with small white flowers in the spring. The East Palatka holly (photo by Adams) is a hybrid often used as a feature tree in yard landscapes in our area.
The fruit of hollies are distinctive and often showy. When most people think of hollies, they may automatically envision the evergreen American holly with its red fruit and spiny leaves, especially during the Christmas holiday season. The non-native Brazilian pepper sometimes called Christmas or Florida holly also produces showy seasonal berries. It has become a problematic invasive plant particularly near marine habitats. One of the most wide spread of all the native species is dahoon holly, which is found throughout the state, even south into the Keys. This species is adapted to the frequent ground fires that historically swept across Florida’s pinelands during the summer thunderstorm season.
Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) is the source of a black drink tea brewed from the leaves and used by historic and prehistoric Native Americans in ceremonies. Yaupon holly is native to southeastern coastal North America, with a range from Virginia into the Florida peninsula, west through the Gulf Coast to east Texas.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, European explorers and colonists documented the use of black drink by some southeastern indigenous cultures, including the local Timucua and Seminole chiefdoms. Black drink recipes varied from group to group, and may have included other species of holly or other herbal substances. According to these sources, black drink was viewed as a stimulant and purging beverage associated with purity and cleansing ceremonies. The primary chemical compound is caffeine. Historic records reported that black drink was generally consumed from cups made from marine shells.
Yaupon was traded and transplanted from the coastal regions into the interior, where it was believed to have been used by 500 BC-AD 200 and later cultures, based on the discovery of shell drinking cups found in high status burials. Historical accounts say that the drinking was limited to adult men and occasionally women of high rank and status. Preparation of black drink likely took many forms, but as it was reported by Europeans, the leaves and twigs of the plant were dry-toasted (parched) and then boiled in specially made large ceramic vessels. The boiled liquid was left to cool and then agitated until it frothed. According to European accounts, the participants in purification rituals began by fasting, then consuming black drink in large quantities. This was followed by bouts of ritual vomiting.
Yaupon holly is not necessarily a natural emetic (a substance that causes vomiting). The vomiting was a significant part of the cleansing ceremony that physiologically reduced the intake and possible fatal overdose of caffeine. These rituals were associated with individual or community religious events, political councils and negotiations, hunting, ballgames, and war parties. Among the Timucua, inhabiting north- central Florida (St. Johns River basin) and southeast Georgia, a type of black drink was called cacina by the Spanish. It was made from dahoon holly leaves.
Chief Saturiwa prepares his men for battle, possibly with black drink from a shell cup, engraving near Fort Caroline by Jacques le Moyne and Theodor De Bry. (1564)
In 2012, archaeologists discovered caffeine residues from ceramic vessels at Cahokia and related sites dated between AD 1050 and 1250. Cahokia is located in the Midwestern state of Illinois on the Mississippi River near the modern city of St. Louis, Missouri. During its heyday the city supported over 200 earthen mounds and a human population upwards of 15,000 residents. It was the largest and earliest of the Mississippian culture capitals. The presence of the black drink hundreds of miles outside of its natural range on the East and Gulf coasts is evidence of a substantial trade network with the southeast, a trade that also involved sharks’ teeth and whelk shells, both products were common in the Northeast Florida peninsula.
Colonial naturalists John and his son William Bartram encountered the use of black drink among natives and Spanish Franciscan missionaries along the St. Johns River between 1766- 1774. As recently as the American Civil War, Southerners were known to use the inexpensive black drink as a stimulant. The regional product probably yielded to the onset of the coffee culture and eventually faded away. Today, peoples in Mesoamerica and South America continue to make drinks from varieties of holly.
Mike Adams is an ecologist, educator, researcher and author. He has lived and in worked along the St. Johns River since 1980. He also a member of the Bartram Trail Society of Florida headquartered in Palatka.