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Plant Database

Search for native plants by scientific name, common name or family. If you are not sure what you are looking for, try the Combination Search or our Recommended Species lists.

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Sideroxylon lanuginosum ssp. lanuginosum

Sideroxylon lanuginosum Michx. ssp. lanuginosum

Gum Bully, Gum Elastic, Chittamwood, Gum Bumelia

Sapotaceae (Sapodilla Family)

Synonym(s): Bumelia lanuginosa, Bumelia rufa

USDA Symbol: SILAL3

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

Small to medium-sized tree; bark brown tinged with red, deeply fissured; branches with stout spines; leaves borne in spurs, oblanceolate, shiny dark green above; rusty brown or green-gray below; flowers small, many, greenish white in verticels; berries purple-black with single large seed.

 

From the Image Gallery

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Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial
Habit: Tree
Leaf Complexity: Simple
Leaf Shape: Oblanceolate
Inflorescence: Verticel
Fruit Type: Berry
Size Notes: Up to about 45 feet tall, often much shorter.
Fruit: Blue to purplish black.

Bloom Information

Bloom Color: White
Bloom Time: May , Jun , Jul

Distribution

USA: AL , AR , FL , GA , MS , SC
Native Distribution: SE U.S. and Mississippi drainage; throughout Oklahoma.
Native Habitat: Solitary trees in open woods and on rocky thin soils or forming thickets on sand in west

Benefit

Use Ornamental: Occasionally used as ornamental.
Use Wildlife: Fruit eaten by quail and turkey in autumn; deer occasionally browse; good honey tree.
Use Other: Outer bark mucilage used as chewing gum by Indians.
Interesting Foliage: yes

From the National Organizations Directory

According to the species list provided by Affiliate Organizations, this plant is on display at the following locations:

Sibley Nature Center - Midland, TX
Brackenridge Field Laboratory - Austin, TX
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department - Austin, TX

Bibliography

Bibref 293 - Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas (1979) Correll, D. S. & M. C. Johnston

Search More Titles in Bibliography

Web Reference

Webref 57 - Atlas of Florida Plants (2020) Institute for Systematic Botany
Webref 38 - Flora of North America (2019) Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
Webref 23 - Southwest Environmental Information Network (2009) SEINet - Arizona Chapter

From the Archive

Wildflower Newsletter 1993 VOL. 10, NO.6 - Saving Trees and Plants at New Center Site a Big Job, Director's Report, Wildflo...

Additional resources

USDA: Find Sideroxylon lanuginosum ssp. lanuginosum in USDA Plants
FNA: Find Sideroxylon lanuginosum ssp. lanuginosum in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Sideroxylon lanuginosum ssp. lanuginosum

Metadata

Record Modified: 2022-10-21
Research By: TWC Staff

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