Ecological Partnership Between Longleaf Pine and Yaupon Holly

Despite their different lineages, longleaf pine trees and yaupon holly shrubs coexist in an ecological partnership that supports both the forest and the cultural landscape of the Southeastern United States, also known as Turtle Island. Derived from two different plant families, they work together to create an ecological balance for them to thrive. Each has its unique environmental roles, growth habits, and cultural uses, which, when combined, support an ecosystem from which both humans and non-human relatives derive tools, nutrition, and even joy. 

In this article, you will learn about the two plant families, pine and yaupon, to which they belong, the roles each plays in supporting a healthy environment, how their growth habits support one another, and the benefits humans, as well as insects and animals, experience from them. Together, these two form a partnership, creating far-reaching benefits from the ocean to the sands. 

Longleaf Pine – Family: Pinaceae (the Pine Family)

One of the largest of the conifer families, longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) belongs to the Pinaceae family, or simply the pine family. The conifer family is the umbrella under which a variety of other tree families exist. Another important native tree in the conifer family is the cypress, and its smaller family system is the cupressaceae (Cypress Family). 

A conifer is characterized by four traits: 

• Reproduction using cones rather than flowers. 

• Needle-like leaves. 

• Production of resin. 

• Wind Pollination. 

Bringing our focus back to the pine family, cousin trees to the pine include loblolly, short-leaf pine, eastern white pine, spruce, and fir trees. 

Yaupon Holly – Family: Aquifoliaceae (the Holly Family)

A member of the Aquifoliaceae family (holly), characterized by spiny leaves, bright red or black berries, and small flowers, yaupon is unique as it is the only one that contains caffeine. Another distinct difference of yaupon holly is its traditional relationship to the Southeastern Indigenous Tribes and its fraught history with European trade and conflict with the British crown, King George. You can learn more about that history by reading: 

For now, we’ll stay on track discovering yaupon, more specifically, in relation to long-leaf pine trees. 

Pine and Yaupon Holly - Why Plant Families Matter 

Knowing that yaupon holly and longleaf pine come from two entirely different plant families helps us understand that they each have different roles to play ecologically, their growth habits, and how they were used culturally by the Native Tribes of the Southeast. 

Pine, in all its tall glory, shapes the top of the canopy in which yaupon thrives. They are fast-growing, reaching for the sun in the sky, soaking up its heat. To the Native American Medicine wheel, pine may be a symbol of the east, where the sun rises, and of summer when the heat hits its maximum intensity. 

Yaupon is nestled underneath the protective care of father pine, where it enjoys shade and dominates the understory, and offers food and cover for animals. In the evergreen family, yaupon stays green throughout the year, sprouting bright red berries in the late summer months.

The Role of Fire for Both Plant Species 

Native Americans have long used fire as a tool to help the landscape of native plants continue to thrive. Both pine trees and yaupon hollies rely on these periodic burns, and just as traditional yaupon holly tea has made a resurgence, so has the culturally significant act of land burning. 

One of the most fire-resistant of pine species, long-leaf pine seedlings can flourish after an intentional land burn clears out competing vegetation and creates open, sunlit conditions necessary for them to grow. This is especially important today as we work to restore the longleaf pine savannas that were devastated over previous centuries. From early colonization through the mid-1800s, millions of acres of longleaf pine were destroyed by the turpentine and naval stores industries. 

While pines are resistant to fires, yaupon shrubs are resilient in the aftermath of a forest fire. This resiliency allows yaupons to resprout quickly from their roots after burns, maintaining their rightful place under the protection of the mighty pine. Native tribes mirror this resilience as they continue to revive and reinvigorate meaningful cultural aspects. 

Restoring pine populations also means a restoration of the plants and wildlife that have counted on their community way of life for centuries. The uniqueness of the restoration of yaupon holly is the potential and likely revitalization of the cultural use of yaupon tea through personal use, forming a connection to land and ancestors, and/or through ceremonial use, forming a stronger sense of Native spirituality. 

The Sandhills: Where Long-Leaf Pine Dominates 

Swaths of land beginning in central North Carolina and stretching through parts of South Carolina, Georgia, and into eastern Alabama are known as the Sandhills. The name sandhills gives you an obvious clue of what to expect: sandy soils, usually well-drained. 

Yaupon’s dense root system supports this unique ecosystem by preventing soil erosion. Also, when the leaves and berries fall from the shrub, they become the nutritious organic matter that feeds the surrounding plants, including young longleaf pines. 

This reciprocal relationship doesn’t feel as much like a parent-child relationship as it does a friend picking up the tab when they have extra to give. In turn, the longleaf pine’s deep taproot reaches deep within the earth to access hydration for itself and the plants under its care while maintaining soil structure.