CatSpring Yaupon Adopts Yaupon Through ABC’s Adopt-an-Herb Program

Catspring Yaupon, an indigenous- and woman-owned supplier of Regenerative Organic Certified and USDA Organic yaupon, has adopted the herb through the American Botanical Council’s Adopt-an-herb botanical research and education program.

Yaupon is an evergreen holly (family Aquifoliaceae), that grows from the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, south through central Texas, southeast to Florida, and east to coastal areas of Maryland and Virginia. It is an upright, single- or multi-trunked small tree or shrub which grows 12-25 feet high. Yaupon has small, dark green leaves and gray bark with white patches, and female plants produce an immense number of bright red berries (drupes) that are eaten by birds. Yaupon is the primary caffeine-containing plant native to North America. Yaupon was used by Native Americans in political, religious, and social settings. The Latin name, Ilex vomitoria, is a misnomer based on yaupon’s traditional use with other plants in native American ritual vomiting ceremonies; however, yaupon has no emetic qualities. It has a rich profile of naturally occurring antioxidants and polyphenols, such as quercetin and rutin, purine alkaloids like caffeine, theobromine, and theacrine, and saponins.

“For centuries, yaupon was written off,” said Abianne Falla, CEO and founder of CatSpring Yaupon. “The plant that had nourished this land for generations was pushed to the margins. This adoption helps set the record straight. By securing yaupon a place in the American Botanical Council’s HerbMedPro database, the science finally sits alongside the story. Researchers, health professionals, and the curious now have one trusted home for the growing body of scientific work on North America’s only native caffeinated plant. That matters to us. Yaupon has always deserved a seat at the table. Now she has one.”

CatSpring’s adoption of yaupon supports ABC’s extensive HerbMedPro database, ensuring the research and educational resource remains up to date for researchers, health professionals, industry members, students, consumers, and other members of the herbal and dietary supplement and natural medicine communities.

HerbMedPro is a database that provides access to important scientific and clinical research data on the uses and health effects of 280 herbs, spices, medicinal plants, and fungi.

“At CatSpring Yaupon, we are stewards of yaupon, and yaupon is a catalyst for restoration,” said Falla. “We restore the land, we honor the people who knew this plant long before we did, and we bring yaupon back into the daily lives she was part of for centuries. The ABC Adopt-an-Herb program keeps the research on yaupon current and gathered in one credible place. That is stewardship of a different kind. We care for the grasslands where she grows wild, and now we help care for the knowledge that grows around her too. We see this adoption as one more step in her return. As the research deepens, we hope more people, more chefs, and more health professionals come to know yaupon for what she truly is. Smooth, steady, unbothered. A plant that offers energy that moves with you, not against you.”

“Being in Central Texas, we at ABC are quite familiar with yaupon,” said ABC founder and executive director Mark Blumenthal. “There are yaupon trees growing directly outside of ABC’s 165-year-old historic headquarters building, and there’s yaupon growing right outside my front door at my home in the Texas Hill Country. We at ABC are so committed to educating the public about yaupon that we published a cover story on yaupon’s history, traditional use, and modern research in our peer-reviewed journal HerbalGram (issue 109) ten years ago. And yaupon is like a sister to the famous South American caffeine-containing beverage yerba maté (Ilex paraguariensis), considered the national drink of Argentina.”

“ABC is deeply grateful to CatSpring Yaupon for its recognition of the benefits of yaupon and CatSpring’s commitment to the sustainable harvesting, development, and marketing of this precious native American beverage plant,” he continued. “We thank CatSpring for adopting yaupon via ABC’s popular Adopt-an-Herb Program that helps ensure continued development and curation of scientific articles on this wonderful North American natural resource.”