# Florida Bully (Sideroxylon reclinatum) > A thorny shrub of floodplain woods and wet pinelands in the Deep South, with tiny white spring flowers and small black berries that birds eat. Also called smooth bumelia, smooth buckthorn, Florida bumelia, Bumelia reclinata. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/florida-bully/ ![Florida bully (Sideroxylon reclinatum) small bright green leaves and tiny white flowers on a gray twig](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/florida-bully-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASideroxylon_reclinatum_reclinatum_196864540.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Shrub - Mature height: 5 to 15 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 8 to 10 - Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, stream banks and sandy barrens - Native range: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina - Sun: Full, Part - Soil moisture: Wet, Average - Growth rate: Slow - Traits: Tolerates wet soil, Wildlife value - 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 Florida bully is a thorny, much-branched shrub of the sapodilla family and a cousin of our gum bumelia, with small, shiny, net-veined leaves. It grows in floodplain forests, low pine woods, savannas and glades from South Carolina and Florida west to Louisiana. Its south Florida form, the Everglades bully, is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Use it in a damp, sunny corner of a natural planting or in a wetland restoration. ## Size, growth and what to expect Florida bully grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. It is a low, much-branched shrub, and some plants reach 15 feet. Its leaves are a third of an inch to 2 inches long, dark green and shiny, with a net of fine veins. Clusters of tiny white flowers open from April to June. The fruit is a purplish black berry less than a third of an inch long, small for a buckthorn, and birds eat it. It grows wild from South Carolina through Florida south to Broward County, and west along the Gulf coast to Louisiana. Its homes are floodplain forests, low pine woods and savannas, and glades. In the far south of Florida it gives way to the Everglades bully, a form with hairy leaves that grows in pine rocklands and marl prairies. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Alabama and Mississippi, and it may be gone from Louisiana. ## How to grow Florida Bully Florida bully grows in full sun or light shade. It wants a moist to wet soil, sandy or over limestone, neutral to alkaline. It does not stand long droughts or salty wind. Set plants 8 feet apart and keep them 8 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires. 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 crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. 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 two summers and in any dry spell after that. Wear gloves when you prune, since the branches carry thorns. Each flower carries both male and female parts, and most buckthorns can pollinate themselves, so a single plant can set fruit. The larvae of the bumelia borer, a longhorn beetle, can tunnel into the base of buckthorn stems. ## Sources - [Flora of North America, vol. 8: Sideroxylon reclinatum, Florida bully, and its subspecies reclinatum and austrofloridense](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250092171) - [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) - [The Institute for Regional Conservation, Natives for Your Neighborhood: Sideroxylon reclinatum var. reclinatum](https://www.regionalconservation.org/beta/nfyn/plantdetail.asp?tx=Sidereclrecl) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Sideroxylon reclinatum](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SIRE8) - [NatureServe Explorer: Sideroxylon reclinatum, Florida Bully](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.130329/Sideroxylon_reclinatum) - [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, ECOS species catalog](https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/4735) - [Florida Natural Areas Inventory: Element Tracking Summary, 6/18/2026](https://www.fnai.org/PDFs/tracking/element_tracking_summary_current.pdf) - [Mississippi Natural Heritage Program: Special Plants, Tracking List, 2018](https://www.mdwfp.com/sites/default/files/2024-03/special-plant-tracking-list-2018.pdf) - [Alabama Natural Heritage Program: 2023 tracking list](https://cosam.auburn.edu/biology/alnhp/_assets/2023_trackinglist.pdf) - [Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Sideroxylon thornei profile](https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=16690) - [Alabama Plant Atlas: Sideroxylon reclinatum](http://www.floraofalabama.org/Plant.aspx?id=3344) - [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 reclinatum](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/SIRE8) ## 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) - [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md) - [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/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 Florida Bully, add ?species=florida-bully with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=florida-bully&zone=8&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Florida Bully](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=florida-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=florida-bully - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Florida 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=florida-bully - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Florida 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=florida-bully:1 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Florida Bully flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.