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Re: Yaupon Hollies



Correction: I said it was the weekend of the Spring CBC - what I meant was
the Carolina Bird Club meeting in Southern Pines :).

I think I have heard that the native American use of Yaupon (I. vomitoria)
consisted primarily of a tea brewed as some kind of digestive and/or
curative.  But I'm not 100% on that.  I do not know if the brewing
counteracted the vomit-inducing properties of the plant or not.

-Sandy

--
Sandy Cash
Durham, NC
scash@mindspring.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joshua Stuart Rose" <jsr6@duke.edu>
To: <Carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2001 4:29 PM
Subject: Re: Yaupon Hollies


> Kate and other Carolinabirders,
>
> The Latin name of the Yaupon Holly comes from the fact that the berries
> make humans vomit; it was apparently used for this purpose by native
> Americans. I'm not sure if this is always true, or if the berries lose
> this property when they become edible to birds after freezing and thawing
> a few times. They also cause dia... um... Montezuma's Revenge, which some
> folks think assists in the successful dispersal of the seeds after
> they've been eaten.
>
> Sandy Cash reports that the date of Dave Sibley's visit to the Regulator
> Bookshop on 9th street in Durham, May 5, is also the date of the Durham
> Spring Bird Count. Hmmmmmm. Maybe we should arrange to have a lunchtime
> countdown in one of the 9th street restaurants...
>
> My girlfriend's suet feeder is finally attracting some customers, but not
> the ones I expected: Cardinals! Not sure if they really like the suet, or
> if they're just picking out the seeds. I'm just glad SOMEbody's eating it!
>
> Good birding,
>
> Josh
>
> On Sun, 1 Apr 2001, Kate Finlayson wrote:
> >
> > Thanks for more interesting info. love the yaupon
> > holly story. Is that why vomit is in its latin name?
> > >
> > > Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria), a species native to the NC
> > > coastal plain. Apparently, the bright red berries are inedible when
> > > they first ripen. Somehow, after 2-3 freezes, the freezing and
> > > thawing renders them edible. Then the waxwings move in...
>
> Joshua S. Rose
> Duke University
> Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)
>
> jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
> http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/
>
>