Before tracing the history of the cassine from the earliest historic period down to the present, a few botanical notes relating to the genus Ilex are appropriate. According to Bentham and Hooker in their “Genera Plantarum,” this genus contains about 145 species, mostly natives of Central and South America, but some belonging to the southern portions of North America; others to the central and tropical parts of the Eastern Hemisphere; and a few to Africa and Australia.[2]
The question whether any other species than the I. cassine contains an alkaloid analogous to caffeine has not been investigated. It is also a question whether any of the allied species, such as those of the sections Prinoides and Prinos, contain a constituent which would enable them to be a substitute for the cassine.[3] Chapman, in his “Botany of the Southern States,” enumerates three principal species of the genus Ilex, and one variety, namely, Ilex opaca (common holly), Ilex dahoon (dahoon holly), and Ilex cassine, sometimes called “Ilex vomitorea.” The one variety is the Ilex myrtifolia (myrtle-leaved holly). He mentions three species of the section Prinoides and four of Prinos. The habitat of all the species, except the I. cassine, extends from the seacoast inland in swamps, along river courses, and low pine lands. In fact, no mention is made of their occupying the light sandy soil close to the seacoast.
Rev. E. C. Reinke writes from Fairfield, Island of Jamaica, that there are four species of Ilex on the island, viz, I. obcordata, I. occidentalis, I. diœca, I. montana. Most of these are found on the Blue Mountains, 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. He could not ascertain that any use whatever was made of the leaves or berries either on the island or anywhere in the West Indies. As the aborigines of the West India Islands are all extinct, or nearly so, it is not strange that no present use is made of the Ilex. It is probable that none of these species contains any such active constituents as the I. cassine.
Dr. Chapman, in a recent letter, says: “The I. cassine grows along the whole east and west coast of Florida, and on the shores of the Gulf and in Texas, if the Orcophiles (Scheele) is the same, as is possible.”
John M. Coulter (Contributions U. S. National Herbarium, vol. II, No. 1, Texas) mentions that the Ilex cassine yaupon “extends into Texas to the valley of the Colorado.” This would imply that it is not found farther westward than the mouth of the Colorado River, which is at Matagorda Bay, about halfway from the Louisiana line to the Rio Grande.
In a recent pamphlet on the extinct coast Indians of Texas, the Karankawas, Gatschet mentions their use of the cassine. They gathered it “in the woods, not on the coast line,” but probably not beyond the tide water of the rivers. These Indians lived on the coast from the Colorado River to the Rio Grande, so it must be found as far as the latter river. Possibly its habitat extends down along the Mexican coast.
P. M. Hale, in his “Woods of North Carolina,” describes several species of holly. Of Ilex cassine he writes as follows:
Yopon (I. Cassine Linn.).—An elegant shrub, 10 to 15 feet high, but sometimes rising into a small tree of 20 to 25 feet. Its native place is near to salt water, and it is found from Virginia southward, but never far in the interior. Its dark evergreen leaves and bright red berries make it very ornamental in yards and shrubberies. The leaves are small, ½ to 1 inch long, very smooth, and evenly scalloped on the edges, with small rounded teeth. In some sections of the lower district, especially in the region of the Dismal Swamp, these are annually dried and used for tea, which is, however, oppressively sudorific—at least, to one not accustomed to it. The maté, or Paraguay tea, of South America, is of the same genus as this, but a very different species. Our yopon is the article from which the famous black drink of the Southern Indians was made. At a certain time of the year they come down in droves from a distance of some hundred miles to the coast for the leaves of this tree. They make a fire on the ground, and putting a great kettle of water on it, they throw in a large quantity of these leaves, and, seating themselves around the fire, from a bowl that holds about a pint they begin drinking large draughts, which in a short time occasion them to vomit freely and easily. Thus they continue drinking and vomiting for the space of 2 or 3 days, until they have sufficiently cleansed themselves; and then, every one taking a bundle of the tree, they all retire to their habitations.
ETYMOLOGY OF THE NAMES “DAHOON,” “CASSINE,” AND “YOUPON.”
I have been at some pains to ascertain the correct etymology of these names.