Gum Bumelia
Sideroxylon lanuginosum
Semi-evergreen shrubs most often in our region. The stems and branches are spiny, especially on the ends of smaller branchlets. Sometimes makes a tree in prime conditions. Small, five-petaled, white flowers appear in early summer, each borne on a hairy flower stalk about 0.2" long. Flowers are followed by a fleshy, black, oblong berry, 0.5" to 1" long, borne singly or in a cluster of 2 or 3; usually dry and firm on the outside, containing a light brown, firm, rounded seed.
Full sun to shade, moderate water, -15º F.
Fruit eaten by birds and other mammals, nectar rich flowers for insects, safe nesting habitat for birds. Bully trees provide food for the larvae of certain Lepidoptera, such as the bumelia webworm moth (Urodus parvula) as well as several species of Coleoptera of the genus Plinthocoelium, commonly known as bumelia borers.
Photo by Linda Jo Conn, iNaturalist
Sideroxylon lanuguinosum on SEINET
The fruit of Bumelia lanuginosa is edible but can cause stomach aches or dizziness if eaten in large quantities. The Kiowa and Comanche tribes both consumed them when ripened. Gum from the trunk of the tree is sometimes chewed by children.
Formerly known as Bumelia lanuginosa. Sideroxylon comes from the Greek sideros, iron and xyolon, for wood, while languinosum means woolly or downy. There are three subspecies based on differences in leaf size and hair color on the abaxial leaf surfaces. There are 84 species of Siderexolyon distributed mainly in North and South America, but also in Africa, Madagascar, southern Asia, and various oceanic islands.
Found in thickets along stream bottoms, or washes from 3,000-5,000 ft. in most of the southern United States, from Arizona east to South Carolina, north to Missouri; south into Mexico.
Flower detail, photo by Matt Tomlinson, iNaturalist
Gum Bumelia fruits, photo by Matt Tomlinson, iNaturalist
Plants can become trees, though this is rare in Arizona. Photo by Linda Jo Conn, iNaturalist