Ilex Vomitoria, known as youpon or yaupon, is a plant from which a medicinal tea is brewed from twigs and leaves. It predominately grows near Ocracoke, Hatteras, Buxton, Avon, Rodanthe, and north to Roanoke Island.
On Hatteras Banks is a manufacturing establishment that may be the only one of its kinds in the country. The establishment is devoted to the gathering and curing of Yopon Tea. The Yopon is a shrubby plant that grows abundantly on the sandhills of the ocean beaches along certain areas of the south Atlantic coast. It is supposed to possess certain medicinal qualities, but its use as a beverage was more abundant.
Used in ceremonial or spiritual contexts, Yaupon was the main ingredient in what was known as the “black drought,” or black drink, in Native American societies.