Only the female plants have fruit. This plant is native to North America. Makes a very dense shrub or hedge & the birds love it for this quality as it provides great cover for them as well as a wonderful nesting site.
This is a larval host for the Henrys Elfin butterfly.
This plant can take very severe pruning or shearing, combined with a dense branching habit; it is ideal for topiary uses. There are very few pest problems.
Very tolerant of almost any soils with almost any drainage. The best fruit production occurs when it receives at least half a day of sun.
The leaves are highly glossy & quite attractive with their crenate edges. Tiny & dainty looking foliage is tough as nails. A moderate growth rate during the growing season.
Some make a tea of the leaves or a combination of leaves & twigs. It (Yaupon) has more caffeine than any other species in North America & is also high in antioxidants.
It can be planted year round throughout its growing range.

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Excellent replacement for boxwood in a water-wise formal or semi-formal garden. Grows slowly, so you don't need to trim frequently (once or twice a year, in our region, if you don't water it). Drought tolerant. Flood tolerant. Never looks tired or thirsty. All-around great little workhorse of a plant. Previous owners planted it as a specimen in a tiny single-plant flower bed surrounded by concrete, which is baffling. It is not a specimen plant. However, it has survived 4 years of total neglect in that terrible little space as I ponder what to replace it with (and probably survived many more years of neglect before we purchased the house). If you have a female plant for the showy winter berries, then you'll need a male pollinator. This is a good, self-effacing choice for tucking into your garden if you don't want the male to be a feature. However, in the suburbs of our region of the world, every right of way & empty lot is full of yaupon, and I think you'd be better off just buying the female and seeing if the wild plants will pollinate it before you spend time and garden space on a male. Yaupon seeds are spread prodigiously by birds, but if you live where it grows wild, you'll be picking seedlings out of your flower beds whether or not you own the plant, so go ahead and buy it if you want it. That feature would probably make it invasive where it isn't native, so probably avoid this outside of North America. This is the only North American plant whose leaves contain caffeine, and it can be used to make a tea, which I've seen offered in a restaurant, but haven't tried yet.

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