hot / crossover high-desert crop
Yaupon
Ilex vomitoria
A caffeinated leaf crop with unusual potential as a low-water bridge between hot and hot/cold high-desert systems.
Data: preliminaryBiome fit
Hot high desert
Heat tolerant
Confidence: low
Hot/cold high desert
A leading candidate for Kingman-
Confidence: medium
Cold plateau
Requires selection beyond the ordinary species hardiness range.
Confidence: low
Alpine / short season
Ordinary yaupon is not adapted to severe alpine winters.
Confidence: medium
Planning profile
| Lifecycle | Perennial |
|---|---|
| Harvested part | leaf |
| Productive winter minimum | 0°F |
| Routine summer maximum | 105°F |
| Annual irrigation | 1.0–2.0 acre-feet/acre |
| Mature yield | 5200–7800 lb/acre |
| Representative density | 2600 plants/acre |
Planning values describe productive plantings, not absolute survival limits. Local evapotranspiration, soil, cultivar, plant age, rainfall, and management can materially change them.
Seasonal mature-plant water
| Season | Daily-equivalent gallons per plant |
|---|---|
| Spring | 0.5–0.9 |
| Summer | 1.0–1.8 |
| Fall | 0.5–0.9 |
Daily-equivalent demand is useful for system sizing; actual irrigation may be accumulated into less-frequent, deeper applications.
Potential products
- caffeinated tea
- dried leaf
- tea blends
Drought and fire resilience
| Drought tolerance | High Tolerates drought |
|---|---|
| Fire resistance | Unknown No fire-resistance finding is recorded in the current research set. |
Why it belongs
Yaupon may connect the hot and cold sides of this initiative. It tolerates heat and varied soils, has selected cultivars extending beyond the ordinary species hardiness range, and produces a distinctive caffeinated product. Its largest unresolved question is how much irrigation a repeatedly harvested leaf plantation needs in the arid West.
This makes yaupon both a prospective crop and a high-value research subject.
Trial priorities
- Measure yield response at multiple irrigation levels in an arid western climate.
- Select for winter hardiness, low humidity, alkaline soil, and intense solar exposure.
- Compare leaf chemistry and finished tea quality across sites and treatments.