# Buckthorn Bully (Sideroxylon lycioides) > A thorny small tree of stream banks and limestone bluffs, with clusters of tiny white flowers in summer and black fruit that birds and squirrels eat. Also called buckthorn bumelia, gopherwood buckthorn, Bumelia lycioides. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/buckthorn-bully/ ![Buckthorn bully (Sideroxylon lycioides) a dense cluster of small white flowers and buds among leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/buckthorn-bully-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASideroxylon_lycioides_kz03.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Small tree - Mature height: 10 to 45 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 7 to 9 - Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, stream banks and rich moist slopes - Native range: 18 states, north to Illinois, south to Florida and west to Texas (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia) - Sun: Full, Part - Soil moisture: Average, Wet - Growth rate: Fast - Traits: Wildlife value, Edible, Tolerates wet soil - Sold as: Saplings, Seed Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes Buckthorn bully is a thorny small tree of the sapodilla family and a cousin of our gum bumelia. Its twigs often carry an inch-long thorn at the leaf scars and bleed a milky sap when broken. It grows from Delaware and Virginia west to southern Illinois and Missouri, and south to Florida and Texas. Its black fruit is edible, though birds and squirrels usually get it first. Florida and Indiana, at the edges of its range, list it as endangered. Give it a moist, sunny corner of a naturalized area, away from paths. ## Size, growth and what to expect Buckthorn bully grows fast, nearly three feet a year in its youth in our growth estimator. It is a shrub or small tree, usually under 20 feet, though old trees can reach about 45. It keeps its leaves in mild winters and drops them farther north. Its smooth young bark turns scaly and peels to show red beneath. Clusters of tiny white flowers open from June to August. The fruit ripens in fall from red to purplish black, an oval berry about half an inch long, edible and sometimes made into jelly. Birds and squirrels usually eat it first, and deer browse the twigs. It grows in bottomland and floodplain forests, along streams and ponds, at the edges of swamps, and on limestone slopes, bluffs and glades. NatureServe ranks it secure overall but critically imperiled in Delaware and Indiana, where it reaches the edges of its range. ## How to grow Buckthorn Bully Buckthorn bully grows in full sun or part shade, in a moist, well-drained sandy loam, and it takes ground that is wet for a time. Neutral to slightly alkaline soil suits it, as over limestone. Plant it 15 feet from a wall and more than 50 feet from overhead wires, and set trees 20 feet apart. Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Sow it as gum bumelia is sown. Clean the seed from fruit picked as soon as it turns purplish black, and chill it damp in the refrigerator for 60 days. Sow it in spring under a light cover of soil. Water weekly through the first summer, then only in long droughts. Deer browse the twigs, so cage young trees for their first few years. Wear gloves when you prune, since many twigs carry thorns. Each flower carries both male and female parts, and most buckthorns can pollinate themselves, so a single tree can set fruit. The larvae of the bumelia borer, a longhorn beetle, can tunnel into the base of buckthorn trunks. It has no other significant pests or diseases. ## Sources - [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Sideroxylon lycioides](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/sideroxylon-lycioides/) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Sideroxylon lycioides](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SILY) - [Flora of North America, vol. 8: Sideroxylon lycioides, buckthorn bully](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242417253) - [Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry: The Buckthorns (Genus Sideroxylon), Circular FDACS-P-01915 (Corogin, October 2018)](https://www.fdacs.gov/content/download/82393/file/CIRCULAR_Buckthorns_SIderoxylon.pdf) - [NatureServe Explorer: Sideroxylon lycioides, Buckthorn Bully](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.158895/Sideroxylon_lycioides) - [Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Nature Preserves: Endangered, Threatened and Rare Vascular Plants of Indiana](https://www.in.gov/dnr/nature-preserves/files/np-etrplants.pdf) - [Florida Natural Areas Inventory: Element Tracking Summary, 6/18/2026](https://www.fnai.org/PDFs/tracking/element_tracking_summary_current.pdf) - [Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife: Rare and Uncommon Plants of Delaware (McAvoy 2024)](https://documents.dnrec.delaware.gov/fw/conservation/Rare-and-Uncommon-Plants-of-Delaware.pdf) - [North Carolina Natural Heritage Program: 2024 Rare Plant List, revised 11/03/2025](https://www.ncnhp.org/media/833/open) - [USDA NRCS Ecological Site Description F123XY003TN](https://edit.sc.egov.usda.gov/catalogs/esd/123X/F123XY003TN) - [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Sideroxylon chapter, gum bumelia (Bonner and Schmidtling)](https://rngr.net/publications/wpsm/genera/s/at_download/file) - [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Sideroxylon lycioides](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/SILY) - [Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation: Natural Heritage Resources of Virginia, Rare Plants, June 2026](https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/plantlist-current.pdf) ## Read before planting - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md) - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md) - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) - [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md) - [Leaf litter, not wood chips, under the canopy](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/leaf-litter-not-wood-chips/index.html.md) - [Native trees and shrubs for birds: caterpillars, fruit, mast, nests and winter cover, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-birds/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Buckthorn Bully, add ?species=buckthorn-bully with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=buckthorn-bully&zone=7&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Buckthorn Bully](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=buckthorn-bully): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=buckthorn-bully - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Buckthorn Bully is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=buckthorn-bully - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Buckthorn Bully needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=buckthorn-bully:1 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Buckthorn Bully flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.