Welcome to this issue of Stumped by Nature, where we notice nature lurking just beyond our screens, curate a list of outside-y events in Austin, and build community with other folks in the thick of the startup ecosystem.
In this week’s issue:
🍃 Yaupon holly
🌤️ Upcoming outdoors events
❄️ Seasonal event deluge
Let’s dig in!
-Nicole
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NATURE SPOTLIGHT
Today we’re spilling the tea.
Though its scientific name, Ilex vomitoria, does so very little to incite confidence, Yaupon holly is a consumable, native plant you’ve walked by a thousand times, and it’s ready to officially meet you.
Ilex vomitoria to you too
Before we get into how to identify this plant, a bit of backstory.
A Brief, Nuance-Lite History of Tea the United States
The 1700s West Indies trade routes were a force. The most ubiquitous teas in contemporary America (think Earl Grey, English Breakfast, green tea, chamomile) are relevant because European powers built massive colonial trade networks to move tea and sugar globally, and they’ve had staying power.
Another world-event factor: the whole taxation without representation thing (insert Hamilton-era singalong here), helped differentiate toddler United States from the British tea-drinking realm, cementing coffee as the patriotic beverage of choice.
But long before that, Indigenous folks were here (hanging out with the bison), and they were totally tea people. Tea-drinking was woven into hospitality, diplomacy, and ceremonial life.
The tea of choice: Yaupon holly, a readily available native shrub and the only caffeinated plant species in North America.
Why vomitoria? There was a lovely component of the Indigenous ritual that happened to include drinking huge quantities of Yaupon holly tea, then engaging in profuse, public vomiting. Even though we all know correlation does not equal causation, some European botanists witnessed this ceremonial practice and labeled the plant, and here we are again living with linguistic sins of our predecessors.
In my mind, this is like matcha rituals in Japanese history, but with a bit more bile.
There are a lot of ways to live.
Howdy, Yaupon holly!
Yaupon Holly’s Bio:
Considered a multi-trunk shrub-to-small tree, usually topping out just over two stories tall
Leaves are green, less than 1.5 inches long, rounded, with finely round-toothed edges
Bark is pale gray with white patches
Female plants produce red, persistent berries, so females are top choice for commercial nursery stock to guarantee berry production
Both a male and female plant are necessary to have berries
The berry is technically a drupe, which is a new word in my vocabulary that made me realize I’m okay hanging out on the threshold and not knowing more about this distinction for the moment. Even though it’s a drupe, plant people have agreed to suspend reality and call these things berries.
The berry is a little red orb. Shiny and round. The internet insists there are four little nutlets inside each berry.
In April and May, small, pale clusters of flowers emerge from male and female Yaupon holly. Native bees love them.
When leaves are prepared as tea, the flavor is similar to South American yerba mate
Yaupon holly leaves contain both caffeine and theobromine, and are low in tannins. This means a gentle caffeine buzz, smooth flavor, no bitterness, and less than usual teeth-staining.
Caffeine-wise, we’re talking Diet Coke-level of caffeine. This clocks in at a quarter of the potency of a cup of coffee.
How to Identify Yaupon Holly
The good news: Yaupon is native, abundant, and beloved by landscapers, so you may already be walking by your own caffeine grove on the way to get your mail.
The bad news: a few plants look similar. One of its twins IS vomit-inducing.
I Spy: Step One
Go outside.
Look for shrubby bushes with red berries.
These aren’t the drupes you’re looking for.
Yaupon holly IS NOT:
Possumhaw, with its too high gastrointestinal distress index—this is not your buddy.
You’ll know you’re with possumhaw by noticing:
its deciduous nature, dropping its leaves in winter
leaves that are bigger and floppier than our target plant
smooth gray bark (we want Yaupon’s mottling)
Nandina / Heavenly Bamboo is a misnomer—this plant is invasive and toxic to birds in large quantities. Given the chance, it will take over the understory and snuff out all signs of biodiversity. Big ol’ nope all around. (Nandina is, somehow, still sold in plant nurseries. Big yikes.)
You’ll know it by:
berries in dense clusters
compound, feathery-looking leaves
the ghosts of the cedar waxwing who indulged in its cyanide-laden berries
Nandina is no good for binge-eating cedar waxwings, but outdoor cats are still far more hazardous to birds than this plant.
Photo: Paul Filch
I Spy: Step Two
It’s worth double-checking with the PictureThis app once you find your shrubby bushes with red berries with small, leathery, oval, green leaves with rounded scalloped edging. It could be your pal.
Screenshot: PictureThis
Extra delight: last weekend’s AirBnb was surrounded by Yaupon
With a positive ID, take a moment to gaze at it in awe.
You have permission to take leaves no greater than one third of the plant’s canopy. Leave all of the berries behind. Did you bring a way to transport these leaves? Of course not. And this is how we end up with full pockets and the occasional laundry day surprise.
Congratulations on your forage.
Tea Time
What an opportunity to use a baking sheet and an electric kettle.
Rinse the leaves and pat them dry
Roast the leaves (300 degrees for 12 minutes should do)
Cool/store
When you’re ready for it, boil some water, add your roasted leaves to a tea diffuser, and steep until your pride brims over
Wet yard caffeine
Parenting Tip
Teach your offspring to identify Yaupon holly.
Bonus: your preschooler might bring you exactly one Yaupon holly leaf per day for the duration of the school year.
VC Firm to Farm
Lilly + me + roughly 100 pounds of vegetables
Takeaways from repeatedly packing five pound bags of carrots in the Central Texas Food Bank warehouse:
Food Bank volunteer coordinators get. it. done.
Carrot sourcing scoop: this particular farm sells grocery-store shaped carrots to grocery stores, and discounts 50-pound bundles of carrot-looking carrots to food banks
Carrot-looking carrots can be silly, multi-legged creatures. We had such secondhand unearthing surprise and delight.
We clearly need to rally a group to volunteers for the Central Texas Food Bank gardens. If you’re interested, reply to this email, and I’ll let you know as details solidify!
UPCOMING EVENTS
🗓️ December 5-6 Light Up the Lake at Old Settler Park
🗓️ December 6 Pfestival of Lights and Parade
🗓️ December 6 City of Taylor Christmas Parade
🗓️ December 6 Holiday Honey Harvest Party at Two Hives
🗓️ December 6 Canopy Open Studio If you need art to cleanse the holiday blast
🗓️ December 7 Community Caroling at Central Machine Works. Singers and instrumentalists of ANY skill level invited. There’s a 15% chance I’ll be there with my flugelhorn testing the boundary on that lower threshold of skill.
🗓️ December 7 Community Tree Planting Some people cut down trees. Some people plant them.
🗓️ December 7 Concert on Shoal Creek
🗓️ December 9 Vegetable Gardening for Beginners at The Natural Gardener
SEASONAL FLAIR
❄️ Trail of Lights, beginning December 10
❄️ Peppermint Parkway at COTA
❄️ 37th Street Lights, beginning December 12
LOCAL FARMERS’ MARKETS
👩🌾 Arboretum Food & Artisan Market Saturdays 11-3
👩🌾 Barton Creek Farmers Market Saturdays 9am-1pm
👩🌾 Lakeline Farmers Market Saturdays 9am-1pm
👩🌾 SFC Farmers’ Market Downtown Saturdays 9am-1pm
👩🌾 SFC Farmers’ Market Sunset Valley Saturdays 9am-1pm
👩🌾 Texas Farmers’ Market at Bell Saturdays 9am-1pm
👩🌾 Texas Farmers’ Market at Mueller Sundays 10am-2pm
POP QUIZ
What are these things in the trees?
HOMEWORK
Identify a Yaupon holly.
Bonus points if it’s a drupe-less male.
Bonus bonus points if you harvest leaves for tea and send a photo of your native bev.
That’s all for this week!
In the meantime, I hope you have as little vomit as possible in your week, unless it’s for sacred ceremonial purposes.
-Nicole
OPTIONAL SIDE QUESTS
🪵 What’s this like for you? Email with your perspective.
🪵 Who should I collaborate with? Email with your recs!
🪵 Is this newsletter not your vibe? Forward it to your enemies to make them suffer too.
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