Ilex vomitoria

• BOTANICAL NAME: Ilex vomitoria
• PRONUNCIATION: I-leks vom-i-TOR-e-a
• COMMON NAME: Yaupon Holly
• FAMILY: Aquifoliaceae
• NATIVITY: Virginia, south to Florida, west to Texas. Typically in the coastal plain and sandy soils.
• GROWTH HABIT: Pyramidal, open small tree.
• SIZE: 15 - 20' with dwarf cultivars measuring 3 - 4'
• HARDINESS: Zone 7 - 9
• CULTURE: Grows in the light shade of open canopies or in open fields as well as wet swampy areas. Tolerates extreme heat and drought and saturated soils. Seemingly a plant for all situations! Needs protection in the mid-Atlantic area.
• LANDSCAPE USE: Specimen, screens, espaliers. Dwarf cultivars are used
  in foundation plantings and drifts.
• FOLIAGE: Alternate, ovate 1/2 - 1 1/2" long with a crenate to serrate margin
  all the way to the base of the leaf. The absence of glands on the underside
  of the leaf separates it from Ilex crenata, which it closely resembles.
• BUDS:
• BARK:
• FLOWERS: Dioecious, creamy white, fragrant.
• FRUIT: Drupe, red, 3/16". (I. crenata has black fruit.)
• PROPAGATION: Cuttings.
• PESTS: None serious.
• CULTIVARS:
  • `Nana' - dwarf, 3 - 4' plant
  • `Pendula' - weeping form to 25'
  • `Stokes Dwarf' - dwarf, 3 - 4' plant with purple stems