Twenty-one varieties of Holly have documented use in Herbal Medicine: Ilex aculeolata, Ilex aquifolium - Holly, Ilex asprolla, Ilex cassine - Cassine, Ilex coriacea - Large Gallberry, Ilex cornuta - Horned Holly, Ilex crenata - Japanese Holly, Ilex glabra - Inkberry, Ilex chapaensis, Ilex integra - Mochi Tree, Ilex latifolia - Tarajo, Ilex macropoda, Ilex opaca - American Holly, Ilex pedunculosa, Ilex pubescens, Ilex purpurea, Ilex rotunda, Ilex verticillata - Winterberry, Ilex vomitoria - Yaupon Holly, Ilex x altaclerensis, Ilex yunnanensis
Native to my region are: Ilex glabra (Inkberry), Ilex laevigata (Smooth Winterberry) and Ilex verticillata. One variety is naturalized, Ilex crenata (Japanese Holly). But, most every ornamental Holly is also grown throughout the southeast. Ilex vomitoria (Yaupon Holly) is native to regions a bit further south than my home state of NC - it is a remarkable plant! Yaupon Holly is our only native caffeine containing herb. Its leaves make a very nice tea. That makes Yaupon the only Holly still commonly used in Herbal Medicine, while several others have historic and folk use,
Gerard wrote of Holly:
A. They are good against the colic: for ten or twelve being inwardly taken bring away by the stool thick phlegmatic humours, as we have learned of them who oftentimes made trial thereof,
B. The birdlime which is made of the bark hereof is no less hurtful than that of Mistletoe, for it is marvellous clammy, it glueth up all the entrails, it shutteth and draweth together the guts and passages of the excrements, and by this means it bringeth destruction to man, not by any quality, but by his glueing substance.
C. Holly beaten to powder and drunk is an experimented medicine against all the fluxes of the belly, as the dysentery and such like.
Culpepper wrote:
Government and virtues. The tree is Saturnine. The berries expel wind, and therefore are held to be profitable in the cholic. The berries have a strong faculty with them; for if you eat a dozen of them in the morning fasting when they are ripe and not dried, they purge the body of gross and clammy phlegm: but if you dry the berries, and beat them into powder, they bind the body, and stop fluxes, bloody-fluxes, and the terms in women. The bark of the tree, and also the leaves, are excellently good, being used in fomentations for broken bones, and such members as are out of joint. Pliny saith, the branches of the tree defend houses from lightning, and men from witchcraft.
Mrs. Grieve tells us:
The Holly is a native of most of the central and southern parts of Europe. It grows very slowly: when planted among trees which are not more rapid in growth than itself, it is sometimes drawn up to a height of 50 feet, but more frequently its greatest height in this country is 30 to 40 feet, and it rarely exceeds 2 feet in diameter. In Italy and in the woods of France, especially in Brittany, it attains a much larger size than is common in these islands.
Holly, the most important of the English evergreens, forming one of the most striking objects in the wintry woodland, with its glossy leaves and clusters of brilliant scarlet berries, is in the general mind closely connected with the festivities of Christmas, having been from very early days in the history of these islands gathered in great quantities for Yuletide decorations, both of the Church and of the home. The old Christmas Carols are full of allusions to Holly:
.......'Christmastide
Comes in like a bride,
With Holly and Ivy clad.'
History---Christmas decorations are said to be derived from a custom observed by the Romans of sending boughs, accompanied by other gifts, to their friends during the festival of the Saturnalia, a custom the early Christians adopted. In confirmation of this opinion, a subsequent edict of the Church of Bracara has been quoted, forbidding Christians to decorate their houses at Christmas with green boughs at the same time as the pagans, the Saturnalia commencing about a week before Christmas. The origin has also been traced to the Druids, who decorated their huts with evergreens during winter as an abode for the sylvan spirits. In old church calendars we find Christmas Eve marked templa exornantur (churches are decked), and the custom is as deeply rooted in modern times as in either pagan or early Christian days.
An old legend declares that the Holly first sprang up under the footsteps of Christ, when He trod the earth, and its thorny leaves and scarlet berries, like drops of blood, have been thought symbolical of the Saviour's sufferings, for which reason the tree is called 'Christ's Thorn' in the languages of the northern countries of Europe. It is, perhaps, in connexion with these legends that the tree was called the Holy Tree, as it is generally named by our older writers. Turner, for instance, refers to it by this name in his Herbal published in 1568. Other popular names for it are Hulver and Holme, and it is still called Hulver in Norfolk, and Holme in Devon, and Holme Chase in one part of Dartmoor.
Pliny describes the Holly under the name of Aquifolius, needle leaf, and adds that it was the same tree called by Theophrastus Crataegus, but later commentators deny this. Pliny tells us that Holly if planted near a house or farm, repelled poison, and defended it from lightning and witchcraft, that the flowers cause water to freeze, and that the wood, if thrown at any animal, even without touching it, had the property of compelling the animal to return and lie down by it.
Description---It sometimes sends up a clean stem furnished with a bushy head, or it may form a perfect pyramid, leafy to the base. The trunk, like that of the Beech, frequently has small wood knots attached to it: these are composed of a smooth nodule of solid wood embedded in bark, and may be readily separated from the tree by a smart blow. The bark is of a remarkably light hue, smooth and grey, often touched with faint crimson, and is very liable to be infected with an exceedingly thin lichen, the fructification of which consists of numerous curved black lines, closely resembling Oriental writing.
The leaves are thick and glossy, about 2 inches long and 1 1/4 inch broad, and edged with stout prickles, whose direction is alternately upwards and downwards, and of which the terminal one alone is invariably in the same plane as the leaf. The upper leaves have mostly only a single prickle. The leaves have neither taste nor odour. They remain attached to the tree for several years, and when they fall, defy for a long time the action of air and moisture, owing to their leathery texture and durable fibres, which take a long time to decay.
Professor Henslow says:
'It has been gravely asserted that holly leaves are only prickly on trees as high as a beast can reach, but at the top it has no spines; that spiny processes of all sorts are a provision of Nature against browsing animals. The truth is that they are the result of drought. A vigorous shoot of Holly may have small leaves without spines at the base, when vigour was beginning; normal, large leaves in the middle when growth was most active; and later on small spineless leaves again appear as the annual energy is declining. Moreover, hollies of ten grow to twenty feet in height, with spiny leaves throughout, and if spineless ones do occur at the top, it is only the result of lessened energy. A cow has been known to be partial to some holly bushes within reach, which had to be protected, just as another would eat stinging-nettles: and the camel lives upon the "Camel-thorn." This animal has a hardened pad to the roof of its mouth, so feels no inconvenience in eating it.'
In May, the Holly bears in the axils of the leaves, crowded, small, whitish flowers, male and female flowers being usually borne on different trees. The fertile flowers are succeeded by the familiar, brilliant, coral-red berries. The same tree rarely produces abundant crops of flowers in consecutive seasons, and Hollies sometimes produce abundance of flowers, but never mature berries, this barrenness being caused by the male flowers alone being properly developed. Berries are rarely produced abundantly when the tree is much clipped, and are usually found in the greatest number on the upper part of the tree, where the leaves are less spiny.
The berries, though eaten by birds, are injurious to human beings, and children should be warned against them. Deer will eat the leaves in winter, and sheep thrive on them. They are infested with few insects.
The ease with which Holly can be kept trimmed renders it valuable as a hedge plant: it forms hedges of great thickness that are quite impenetrable.
It has been stated by M. J. Pierre, that the young stems are gathered in Morbihan by the peasants, and made use of as a cattle-food from the end of November until April, with great success. The stems are dried, and having been bruised are given as food to cows three times daily. They are found to be very wholesome and productive of good milk, and the butter made from it is excellent.
It is also well known to rabbit-breeders that a Holly-stick placed in a hutch for the rabbits to gnaw, will act as a tonic, and restore their appetite.
The wood of Holly is hard, compact and of a remarkable even substance throughout. Except towards the centre of very old trees, it is beautifully white, and being susceptible of a very high polish, is much prized for ornamental ware, being extensively used for inlaying, as in the so-called Tunbridge ware. The evenness of its grain makes it very valuable to the turner. When freshly cut, it is of a slightly greenish hue, but soon becomes perfectly white, and its hardness makes it superior to any other white wood. As it is very retentive of its sap and warps in consequence, it requires to be well dried and seasoned before being used. It is often stained blue, green, red or black; when of the latter colour, its principal use is as a substitute for ebony, as in the handles of metal teapots. Mathematical instruments are made of it, also the blocks for calico printing, and it has been employed in wood engraving as a substitute for boxwood, to which, however, it is inferior. The wood of the silver-striped variety is said to be whiter than that of the common kind.
A straight Holly-stick is much prized for the stocks of light driving whips, also for walking-sticks.
The common Holly is the badge of the Drummonds.
Cultivation---The Holly will grow in almost any soil, provided it is not too wet, but attains the largest size in rich, sandy or gravelly loam, where there is good drainage, and a moderate amount of moisture at the roots, for in very dry localities it is usually stunted in its growth, but it will live in almost any earth not saturated with stagnant water. The most favourable situation seems to be a thin scattered wood of Oaks, in the intervals of which it grows up at once. It is rarely injured by even the most severe winters.
Holly is raised from seeds, which do not germinate until the second year, hence the berries are generally buried in a heap of earth for a year previously to being sown. The young plants are transplanted when about a foot or 18 inches high, autumn being the best time for the process. If intended for a hedge, the soil around should be previously well trenched and moderately manured if necessary. Holly exhausts the soil around it to a greater extent than most deciduous trees. At least two years will be needed to recover the check given by transplanting. Although always a slow grower, Holly grows more quickly after the first four or five years.
The cultivated varieties of Holly are very numerous: of these one is distinguished by the unusual colour of its berries, which are yellow. Other forms are characterized by the variegated foliage, or by the presence of a larger or smaller number of prickles than ordinary.
In winter the garden and shrubbery are much indebted to the more showy varieties for the double contrast afforded by their leaves and berries. They are propagated by grafting on four- or five-year-old plants of the common sort and by cuttings.
The best time to cut down Holly is early in the spring, before the sap rises. A sloping cut is preferable to a straight one, as moisture is thus prevented from remaining on the cut portion, and as an additional precaution the wound should be covered with a coating of tar. The side growths should be left, as they will help to draw up the sap.
Part Used---The leaves and berries, also the bark. The leaves are used both fresh and dried, but usually in the dried condition, for which they are collected in May and June. They should be stripped off the tree on a dry day, the best time being about noon, when there is no longer any trace of dew on them. All stained or insect-eaten leaves must be rejected.
Medicinal Action and Uses---Holly leaves were formerly used as a diaphoretic and an infusion of them was given in catarrh, pleurisy and smallpox. They have also been used in intermittent fevers and rheumatism for their febrifugal and tonic properties, and powdered, or taken in infusion or decoction, have been employed with success where Cinchona has failed, their virtue being said to depend on a bitter principle, an alkaloid named Ilicin. The juice of the fresh leaves has been employed with advantage in jaundice.
The berries possess totally different qualities to the leaves, being violently emetic and purgative, a very few occasioning excessive vomiting soon after they are swallowed, though thrushes and blackbirds eat them with impunity. They have been employed in dropsy; also, in powder, as an astringent to check bleeding.
Culpepper says 'the bark and leaves are good used as fomentations for broken bones and such members as are out of joint.' He considered the berries to be curative of colic.
From the bark, stripped from the young shoots and suffered to ferment, birdlime is made. The bark is stripped off about midsummer and steeped in clean water; then boiled till it separates into layers, when the inner green portion is laid up in small heaps till fermentation ensues. After about a fortnight has elapsed, it becomes converted into a sticky, mucilaginous substance, and is pounded into a paste, washed and laid by again to ferment. It is then mixed with some oily matter, goosefat being preferred, and is ready for use. Very little, however, is now made in this country. In the north of England, Holly was formerly so abundant in the Lake District, that birdlime was made from it in large quantities and shipped to the East Indies for destroying insects.
The leaves of Holly have been employed in the Black Forest as a substitute for tea. Paraguay Tea, so extensively used in Brazil, is made from the dried leaves and young shoots of another species of Holly (Ilex Paraguayensis), growing in South America, an instance of the fact that similar properties are often found in more than one species of the same genus.
I. Gongonha and I. Theezans, also used in Brazil as tea, and like I. Paraguayensis are valuable diuretics and diaphoretics. The leaves of I. Paraguayensis and several others are used by dyers; the unripe fruits of I. Macoucoua abound in tannin, and bruised in a ferruginous mud, are used in dyeing cotton, acting something like galls.
Brother Aloysius wrote:
Who does not know holly with its prickly leaves which one can hardly touch without receiving scratches?... The white flowers grow on racemes along the stems; they are followed by red berries with a strongly purgative effect. The leaves are used medicinally… (for) gout, colic and fever. The fruit also has a medicinal use: if 10 to 12 berries are taken, they will have a very purgative effect and are a powerful remedy for colic.
The Lumbee used Holly:
Lumbee herbal experts viewed holly leaves as a diaphoretic, and an infusion of the fresh leaves was prepared to treat measles, pleurisy, and smallpox. Lumbee healers also prepared the leaves to treat intermittent fevers. … Lumbee healers considered the berries to be violently emetic and purgative.
King’s American Dispensatory of 1898 states:
The holly is found growing throughout the United States from Maine to Louisiana, in moist woodlands, and flowering in June. It is quite common to the Atlantic states, especially New Jersey. The viscid substance of the inner bark, like the mistletoe berry, furnishes an adhesive material known as birdlime. The berries are about as large as a whortleberry, of a red color, and an acrid, bitterish taste. The leaves are the medicinal parts. They have a bitter, somewhat harsh taste, but no odor, and yield their virtues to water or alcohol. They are believed to contain ilicin (see Related Species), wax, gum, salts, etc. (For the preparation of Rousseau's ilicin, see this Dispensatory, last revision.) Mr. D. P. Pancoast (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1856, Vol. XXVIII, p. 315) prepared from the leaves of American holly an aqueous decoction from which the bitterness was removed by charcoal, and subsequently abstracted from the latter by alcohol. An amorphous, non-hygroscopic, intensely bitter mass resulted upon evaporation of the solvent, partially soluble in water, and completely soluble in alcohol and ether. It could not be obtained in the crystallized state. By the same process the author isolated from the berries a crystallizable, very bitter principle, soluble in ether, water, and alcohol. Acids precipitate it from aqueous solution. The fruit contains tannin. Mr. Walter A. Smith (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1887, p. 230) obtained from the leaves, by extraction with benzin, a volatile oil of an acrid, mustard-like odor, and also identified a glucosid. The leaves contained 4.5 per cent of ash.
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Holly leaves are tonic and febrifuge; said to be very efficient in the treatment of intermittent fevers, in doses of 60 grains of their powder administered 1 or 2 hours previous to the chill. The infusion has also proved beneficial in icterus, pleuritis, catarrh, variola, arthritis, etc. The berries are said to be emeto-cathartic and cholagogue; from 8 to 15 of them will act as a hydragogue. According to Dr. Rousseau, ilicin acts decidedly upon the spleen, liver, and pancreas, producing a sedative effect, and is a cheap substitute for quinine. Its dose is 10 grains in pill form, gradually increased to 30 grains.
Photo: Ilex aquifolium 12.Related Species.—Ilex aquifolium, Linné, European holly, together with several other species in this country, possess properties similar to those of American holly. Dr. F. Moldenhauer has found in the leaves a crystalline yellow coloring matter, which is scarce in the leaves when they are collected in January, but abundant when gathered in August. It is soluble in alcohol or hot water, but insoluble in ether of cold water, loses its color at 185° C. (365° F.), and fuses at 197.7° C. (388° F.), decomposing slightly above this temperature. He gave it the name ilixanthin (C17H22O11). He also isolated from the aqueous extract the crystallizable calcium salt of a syrupy acid, ilicic acid. Ilicin is the bitter principle upon which the febrifuge properties of the leaves depend; it has not been obtained as yet in a pure state. The leaves have been used in intermittent fevers and rheumatism, and the berries in dropsy. The leaves produce gastric heat, nausea, and colic. The berries have emeto-cathartic properties.
Ilex Cassine, Walter (Ilex vomitoria, of Aiton), or South Sea tea, an evergreen shrub, growing in the southern states, is the Cassine of the Indians. It is also known as Cassena, Yaupon or Youpon. A liquid, called black drink, is prepared by boiling the toasted leaves in water; in the performance of their religious rites, and on great occasions when in council, the men only are permitted to drink this, for the purpose of cleansing their systems. The leaves have a rough, aromatic taste, no odor, and in large doses their decoction causes active emesis, catharsis, and diuresis; in small quantity it greatly increases the urinary discharge. A few leaves of this plant lessen the injurious influence of saline water, and it is used for this purpose by persons along the sea shore in North Carolina. According to the analysis of Dr. F. P. Venable (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1885, p. 390), the dried leaves contain 0.32 per cent of caffeine, 7.39 per cent of tannin, and 5.75 per cent of ash. Mr. Henry M. Smith (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1872, p. 216) found 0.011 per cent of a volatile oil, 3.4 per cent of resin, and 0.122 per cent of caffeine. (For a detailed and exhaustive article on Ilex Cassine see monograph by Edwin M. Hale, M. D., Bulletin No. 14, Division of Botany, U. S. Department of Agriculture.)
Fig. 143. Ilex glabra.Ilex glabra. Ink berry.—Sandy grounds from New England to Florida. Employed chiefly for ornamentation, and was at one time used in intermittent fevers.
Ilex Dahoon, Walter; Dahoon holly, and Ilex myrtifolia, Walter; both of southern states, are also known as Cassena.
Photo: Ilex paraguariensis 2.Related entries: Caffea.—Coffee - Thea.—Tea - Theobroma.—Cacao - Guarana (U. S. P.)—Guarana - Kola.—Kola
Ilex paraguayensis, St. Hilaire; Argentine Republic, and Brazil.—This tree yields Paraguay tea or Yerba maté, St. Bartholomew's tea or Jesuit's tea, which is consumed in immense quantities in South America in place of Chinese tea. Its effects are said to more nearly resemble coca than tea. The plant grows along water courses, and from December to August collecting parties gather the leaves which, after a preparatory torrification to enhance their aroma, are powdered and enter into commerce and are sold to be prepared by infusion like common tea. Their chief constituent is caffeine, which exists in quantities varying from 0.2 per cent to 1.8 per cent, the average yield (Peciolt) being 0.64 per cent. Tannin (matetannic acid) is present in amounts of from 10 to 16 per cent (A. Robbins, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1878, p. 273). The leaves are most aromatic just before the fruit is ripe. Volatile oil, a stearopten, and a crystallizable acid, mateviridic acid, have also been obtained from the leaves. The infusion of Paraguay tea is diuretic and sudorific, and in excessive doses acts as a drastic purgative. (For an interesting article on maté or Paraguay tea, see Th. Peckolt, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1883, p. 570.)
Plants for A Future states:
Medicinal use of Holly: Holly is little used in modern herbalism. The leaves are diaphoretic, expectorant, febrifuge and tonic. They can be use fresh at almost any time of the year or can be harvested in late spring and dried for later use. They are used in the treatment of intermittent fevers, rheumatism, catarrh, pleurisy etc. The juice of the fresh leaves has been successfully used in the treatment of jaundice. The berries are violently emetic and purgative. They have been used in the treatment of dropsy and as a powder they have been used as an astringent to check bleeding. The berries are toxic, especially to children, and should not be used medicinally except under professional supervision. The root has been used as a diuretic, though there are more effective diuretics available. The plant is used in Bach flower remedies - the keywords for prescribing it are "Hatred", "Envy", "Jealousy" and "Suspicion".
Peterson Field Guides Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants tells us:
American Holly, Ilex opaca: American Indians chewed berries for colic, indigestion. Leaf tea for measles, colds, flu, pneumonia; drops for sore eyes; externally, for sores, itching. Thick syrup of berries formerly used to treat children’s diarrhea. Chewing only 10-12 berries acts as strong laxative, emetic, and diuretic. Bark tea once used in malaria and epilepsy. Warning: Fruits considered poisonous, inducing violent vomiting.
Youpon Holly, Ilex vomitoria: American Indians used a very strong leaf tea as a ceremonial cleansing beverage, drinking large amounts to induce vomiting or act as a purgative. This may be the only caffeine containing plant native to North America,
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This article is an excerpt from
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Author: Judson Carroll. Judson Carroll is an Herbalist from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
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Disclaimer
The information on this site is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing on this site has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I am not a doctor. The US government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine and their is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm just a guy who studies herbs. I am not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write is accurate or true! I can tell you what herbs have "traditionally been used for." I can tell you my own experience and if I believe an herb helped me. I cannot, nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use any herb I, or anyone else, mentions you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals and no two are identical. What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy, sensitivity or underlying condition that no one else shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to read my blog you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices and not to blame me for anything, ever.
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