OMG... There is a plant that you can grow in the U.S. that has caffeine!?! 0_0 For those curious it's... Yaupon Holly and it tastes like green tea.
P.S. If you try this use the leaves... Do not use the berries. Also, most holly plants are poisonous. The botanical name is: Ilex vomitoria. It's a misnomer and won't make you puke. I'm still reading up on it myself.
@RadioAngel Is it a native plant, or something that has escaped from gardens into the wild? Is it invasive?
@KolokokoBird @RadioAngel I believe it's native to the Southeastern US.
@VeeEhn @KolokokoBird It's in southern Missouri too.
@RadioAngel @VeeEhn Cool. Here we have a non-native holly plant that is an invasive problem in our forest. :-(
@KolokokoBird @VeeEhn oof... Invasive honeysuckle is a big one here. It's everywhere.
@RadioAngel @VeeEhn We have invasive non-native honeysuckle, too. Pernicious! But we also have a native honeysuckle that is quite pretty.
@RadioAngel fucking nice!!
@RadioAngel I got a yaupon tea sample pack once. The plain yaupon does in fact make me feel a bit gross in the tumtum, but I suspect that's personal and probably just makes it "an acquired taste"
My favorite was the yaupon and mint. Delicious.
@RadioAngel I think goosegrass (cleavers, can't remember Latin name but poke me if you want me to look it up later) also contains some caffeine. Not sure how invasive it is there.
@artsyhonker ooh! I'll have to look into this. There's a ton of cleavers growing around here.
@RadioAngel there's also bay nut coffee down here in California!
@RadioAngel
ahh I love yaupon tea! I grow yaupon in my garden. since it's native it's used a lot in landscaping where I live
@RadioAngel oo this is cool, i now wanna know if there are any caffein plants i can grow in the pnw
Well after researching, the only thing that grows in the pnw that has caffeine is scotchbroom seeds, which are an invasive plant, though this plant can be used to help reforest areas particularly damaged by roadways, and harmed soils. It can revitalize soil, and pull nutrients from deeper below the surface dirt, and cultivate new life. It has the potential of allowing breathing room for trees to spring up in between plants, and creates food and a home for birds.
According to the video i watched, colonizers brought it over and then got upset when it started taking over their roadways, i think its kinda funny that their own plant turned on them. The plant can be used as a dieretic, and can help lower blood pressure and heart problems, the seeds are what is caffeinated, but they shoot out like springs so im not sure how one would harvest haha. Be careful though high dosages of this plant can be poisonous.
@RadioAngel u may think thia is cool
What's really cool is it grows in the wild here. This is definitely going on my list of plants to grow along with spicebush and new jersey tea.