Yaupon is used in the South as a hedge plant, and is much prized for Christmas decorations. A tea made from leaves was once popular with the Indians. The plant is now grown on the Atlantic Coast for the commercial production of yaupon tea for medicinal purposes.
I. decidua Walt. known as POSSUM HAW (WINTER [BERRY]) is similar to yaupon, but the leaves shed in the fall; the [fruits], which remain over winter, are orange to orange-scarlet in color.
SILVER MAPLE
Acer saccharinum L.
Silver, or soft, maple is found on moist land and along streams in the extreme eastern part of the state. In its best region of growth, the valley of the lower Ohio River, it attains heights of 100 feet or more and diameters of 3 feet or over.
SILVER MAPLE (Twig and [fruit], one-half natural size; leaf, one-third natural size)
The [BARK] on old trunks is dark gray and broken into long flakes or [scales]. The twigs are slender, brittle, reddish-brown, and shiny.
The buds are rounded, red or reddish-brown, blunt-pointed, generally like those of red maple.
The [simple], [opposite] LEAVES have from 3 to 5 lobes ending in long points with toothed margins and separated by deep angular [sinuses] or openings; the leaves are pale green on the upper surface, silvery-white underneath, and have a red [petiole].
The FLOWERS arising from the large prominent flower buds are a greenish-yellow color and appear in clusters in the spring before the leaves. The [FRUIT] ripens in the spring and consists of a pair of wing samaras or “keys” with wings 1 to 2 inches long on a slender, flexible, thread-like [peduncle] about an inch long.