What is Holly used for?
Traditional/Ethnobotanical uses The plants in the holly family have been used as ornamentals and in herbal medicine for centuries. Early history records the European pagans offering holly branches as gifts during the Saturnalia. Early Christians decorated their homes with holly during Christmas, a practice still continued today. The early settlers in the southeastern US made yaupon tea from I. vomitoria, reserving a stronger decoction for use as an emetic. I. opaca fruit tea had been used as a cardiac stimulant by the American Indians; the Chinese used it to treat coronary disease. One of the most economically important species, I. paraguayensis or Maté tea (see separate monograph) has long been cultivated and used in Brazil and Paraguay as a tea-like beverage containing caffeine. The mixed leaves of I. cassine, I. vomitoria and I. dahoon also were used for a hot drink called yaupon or black drink. Drinkers used it ceremonially to “cleanse” themselves, probably due to its sweat- and vo
