{{Short description|Species of holly}} {{Redirect|Cassena|the insect genus|Cassena (beetle)}} {{Speciesbox | image = Ilex-cassine-new-hanover-co-nc-29aug2009-P1210171-cwcook.jpg | image_alt = Ilex cassine leaves and immature fruits | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Rhodes, L. |author2=Maxted, N. |author3=Stritch, L. |date=2018 |title=''Ilex cassine'' |volume=2018 |article-number=e.T20678718A20695061 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T20678718A20695061.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Ilex | species = cassine | authority = L.<ref name=grin>{{GRIN | accessdate=2011-09-20}}</ref> | range_map = Ilex cassine range map 4.png | range_map_caption = Natural range in United States }}

'''''Ilex cassine''''' is a holly native to the southeastern coast of North America that grows from Virginia south down the East Coast to Florida, then west along the Gulf Coast to the Colorado River in Texas, with subspecies growing southward on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico as far as Veracruz, Mexico, and in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas. It is commonly known as '''dahoon holly'''<ref name=grin/> or '''''cassena''''', the latter derived from the Timucua name for ''I. vomitoria''.<ref name="Austin">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eS7lX_rC3GEC |first=Daniel F. |last=Austin |title=Florida Ethnobotany |publisher=CRC Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8493-2332-4 |pages=590–591}}</ref>

It is a large shrub or small tree growing to {{convert|12|m|ft|sp=us}}.<ref name="EdwardsBennet2005">{{cite journal |last1=Edwards |first1=Adam L. |last2=Bennett |first2=Bradley C. |title=Diversity of Methylxanthine Content in Ilex cassine L. and Ilex vomitoria Ait.: Assessing Sources of the North American Stimulant Cassina |journal=Economic Botany |date=June 2005 |volume=59 |issue=3 |page=277 |doi=10.1663/0013-0001(2005)059[0275:DOMCII]2.0.CO;2 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301649583 |issn=0013-0001}}</ref> The leaves are evergreen, 6–15&nbsp;cm long and 2–4&nbsp;cm broad, glossy dark green, entire or with a few small spines near the apex of the leaf. The flowers are white, with a four-lobed corolla. The fruit is a red drupe, 5–6&nbsp;mm in diameter, containing four seeds.<ref name=flh>Florida Department of Environmental Protection: [http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/wetlands/delineation/featuredplants/ilex.htm Florida's Hollies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209040653/http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/wetlands/delineation/featuredplants/ilex.htm |date=2010-02-09 }}</ref><ref name=rhs>Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan {{ISBN|0-333-47494-5}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=462 |title=Ilex cassine Fact Sheet<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2008-05-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506151941/http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/DENDROLOGY/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=462 |archive-date=2008-05-06 }}</ref>

As with other hollies, it is dioecious with separate male and female plants. Only the females have berries, and a male pollenizer must be within range for bees to pollinate them.

==Varieties== There are three varieties:<ref name=grin/> *''Ilex cassine'' var. ''cassine'' (United States, Caribbean) *''Ilex cassine'' var. ''angustifolia'' <small>Aiton.</small> (United States) *''Ilex cassine'' var. ''mexicana'' <small>(Turcz.) Loes.</small> (Mexico)

''Ilex × attenuata'' is a naturally occurring hybrid of ''Ilex cassine'' and ''Ilex opaca''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=q190 |title=''Ilex'' × ''attenuata'' 'Fosteri' |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=Plant Finder |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |access-date=6 December 2020 }}</ref>

==Natural range and cultivation== ''Ilex cassine'' is indigenous to the southeastern coast of North America and the Caribbean, growing along the margins of waterways and swamps from Virginia southward down the Atlantic coastline to Florida and west along the Gulf coast to the Colorado River in Texas,<ref name="Rätsch2005">{{cite book |last1=Rätsch |first1=Christian |title=The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications |date=2005 |publisher=Rochester, Vt. : Park Street Press |isbn=978-0-89281-978-2 |pages=284–287 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofps0000rats/page/284/mode/2up?q=%22Ilex+cassine%22&view=theater}}</ref> with subspecies growing southward as far as Veracruz on the Gulf Coast, and in the Caribbean on the coasts of Cuba, the Bahamas, and Puerto Rico.<ref name="NCCE2020">{{cite web |author1=NCCE Staff |title=Ilex cassine (Cassine, Cassine Holly, Dahoon, Dahoon Holly, Narrowleaf Dahoon Holly) {{!}} North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox |url=https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ilex-cassine/ |website=plants.ces.ncsu.edu |publisher=N.C. Cooperative Extension |access-date=18 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808093850/https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ilex-cassine/ |archive-date=8 August 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>

It is cultivated in warmer climates as an ornamental plant for the attractive bright red berries set against the glossy green leaves. It is known to grow as high as {{convert|12|m|ft|sp=us}}.<ref name="EdwardsBennet2005"/>

==Stimulant== ''Ilex cassine'' leaves, like those of its sister species ''I. vomitoria'', contain measurable amounts of the stimulants caffeine and theobromine. The leaves of both species may have been used in the Native American ''cassena'' (the Black drink), and there has been confusion in the literature as to which species was commonly used to brew the drink, but ''I. vomitoria'' provides more caffeine and was probably the usual ingredient in cassena.

An analysis of the levels of methylxanthines in the leaves used in various stimulant drinks found that ''I. cassine'' leaves have about 20% (by dry weight) of the amount of caffeine found in ''I. vomitoria'', 8% of that in ''Coffea arabica'', and about 3% of the caffeine in ''Camellia sinensis'' Kunze. ''I. cassine'' has twice as much theobromine as ''I. vomitoria'' and 20% of the level in ''C. sinensis'' Kunze (''C. arabica'' does not contain significant amounts of theobromine), but the stimulant effect of theobromine is just 10% of that of caffeine.<ref name="EdwardsBennet2005"/>

The native peoples of Florida used the hollowed-out shells of lightning whelks (''Busycon contrarium''), a kind of sea snail found on the east and west coasts of Florida, as drinking vessels in their black drink ceremonies.<ref name="EdwardsBennet2005"/><ref name="Bullen1978">{{cite journal |last1=Bullen |first1=Ripley P. |title=Pre-Columbian Trade in Eastern United States as Viewed from Florida |journal=The Florida Anthropologist |date=September 1978 |volume=31 |issue=3 |url=https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00027829/00156/pdf/2|via=UF Digital Collections|pages=92–108|access-date=26 April 2025}}</ref>{{rp|94-95}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Commonscat-inline|Ilex cassine|''Ilex cassine''}} * {{Wikispecies-inline|Ilex cassine|''Ilex cassine''}} * [http://www.carolinanature.com/trees/ilca.html Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina: Dahoon (''Ilex cassine'')]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q3141413}}

cassine Category:Plants described in 1753 Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Category:Ornamental trees Category:Trees of the Bahamas Category:Trees of Cuba Category:Trees of Puerto Rico Category:Trees of Northern America