Sideroxylon lanuginosum Michx.
= Bumelia lanuginosa, Lyciodes lanuginosum
Gum bumelia, gum bully, coma, chittamwood, woolly buckthorn, black-haw, false buckthorn
Kiowa: ‘ko-la – “gum” (Vestal and Schultes 1939:46)
Location in Texas: all TX except NW; very common in Travis Co.; only Sideroxylon species in TX.
Form: shrub, tree, up to 50 ft. tall; perennial.
Flowers: June-July (white).
Food
Fruits – the black fruits were sometimes eaten by the Kiowa and other southern Natives (Vestal and Schultes 1939:46) and folk in northern Mexico (Bourke 1895:47). I think the fruits taste good, with a sweet taste. Palatability may vary from tree to tree (Tull 1987:202). They make an excellent jelly (Tull 1987:202).
Outer bark – ground up by the Kiowa to yield a mucilaginous substance that was very soft and adhesive and hardened rather quickly in the air (Vestal and Schultes 1939:46). This was one of the favorite chewing gums of the Kiowa (Vestal and Schultes 1939:46). The sap has a nice, clean, sweet taste to me.
GS – June – August (Bourke 1895:47).
Notes – the fruits of the related Sideroxylon occidentale / Bebelama were eaten fresh by the Seri. The fruits were crushed in the fingers to remove the seeds, and were dried. The wood of this species were used for posts and beams in Seri house construction.
Experimentation
The fruits have an excellent taste to me. They are sweet, juicy but thin-fleshed, and have a unique fragrant or herbal taste. They contain one large seed that is easy to remove.
I have tried to make the bark into gum numerous times but have not yet produced a desirable gum. The taste is decent, but the texture is fibrous. The sap, however, has an excellent sweet taste, and may be usable as gum if larger amounts are let to dry first.
ID
Helpful identifying characteristics include short side branches that terminate in thorns, or regular thorns. It is otherwise often superficially similar to oaks.
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