There is a shrub or small tree, a species of holly (Ilex cassine), growing in the Southern States along the seacoast, not extending inland more than 20 or 30 miles, from Virginia to the Rio Grande. Its leaves and tender branches were once used by the aboriginal tribes of the United States in the same manner as the Chinese use tea and the South Americans use maté. But while the use of _Thea sinensis_ and _Ilex paraguayensis_ still survives, the use of the shrub above mentioned has been almost abandoned by our native Indians and by the white people who once partially adopted it as a beverage. The reason for its disuse is hard to discover, for, in common with the tea and maté, it contains caffeine, or a similar alkaloid. The object of this paper is to examine its history, to suggest its restoration to a place among the stimulant beverages, and inquire into its possible economic value. I have been able to trace its use as a beverage back to the legendary migration of the Creeks from their supposed far western home to the seacoast of the Carolinas. Whether it was used by the prehistoric mound-builders is a question which may not at present be solved. But some archæologist of the future may find in the remains of the mound-builders or their predecessors proof of its use among them.[1] BOTANY OF CASSINE. Before tracing the history of the cassine from the earliest historic period down to the present, a few botanical notes relating to the genus Ilex are appropriate. According to Bentham and Hooker in their “Genera Plantarum,” this genus contains about 145 species, mostly natives of Central and South America, but some belonging to the southern portions of North America; others to the central and tropical parts of the Eastern Hemisphere; and a few to Africa and Australia.[2] The question whether any other species than the I. cassine contains an alkaloid analogous to caffeine has not been investigated. It is also a question whether any of the allied species, such as those of the sections _Prinoides_ and _Prinos_, contain a constituent which would enable them to be a substitute for the cassine.[3] Chapman, in his “Botany of the Southern States,” enumerates three principal species of the genus Ilex, and one variety, namely, _Ilex opaca_ (common holly), _Ilex dahoon_ (dahoon holly), and _Ilex cassine_, sometimes called “Ilex vomitorea.” The one variety is the _Ilex myrtifolia_ (myrtle-leaved holly). He mentions three species of the section _Prinoides_ and four of _Prinos_. The habitat of all the species, except the I. cassine, extends from the seacoast inland in swamps, along river courses, and low pine lands. In fact, no mention is made of their occupying the light sandy soil close to the seacoast.