Common Name: Shittamwood

General Information

Sideroxylon lycioides is a sometimes spiny, deciduous shrub or a tree that can grow up to 14 metres tall.
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and source of wood.
Sideroxylon lycioides has a very wide distribution, large population, is not currently experiencing any major threats and no significant future threats have been identified. The plant is classified as 'Least Concern' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2020)[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

, ,

Range

South-eastern N. America - Missouri to Virginia, south to Texas and Florida

Habitat

Low moist soils by swamps and streams, also found on rocky bluffs[]. Upland, moist and floodplain forests, edges of swamps, hammocks; at elevations from 10 - 1,500 metres[].

Properties

Conservation Status	Least Concern
Edibility Rating
Habit	Deciduous Tree
Height	6.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Sideroxylon lycioides is a plant of the warm temperate to subtropical regions of southern N. America. It is said to be able to withstand occasional temperatures falling to around -15°c, but in general is not very hardy outside the milder regions of the temperate zone. Plants can regenerate freely from the base if they are cut back by cold[].
Succeeds in a warm sunny site in any freely draining moderately fertile soil[].
This species rarely, if ever, fruits in Britain[]. A tree at Kew Botanic Gardens flowered freely in the long hot summer of 1989 but did not produce fruit[].

Edible Uses

Fruit[]. No further details. The purplish-black, subglobose berries have a thick flesh and can be 9 - 16mm in diameter[, , ].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

Wood - heavy, hard, not strong, close grained[, ]. It weighs about 46lb per cubic foot[]. Of no commercial value, it is used for tool handles, cabinet making etc[, ].

Propagation

Seed - we have no details on this species but would suggest that if ripe seed can be obtained it should be sown straight away in a cold greenhouse. Stored seed can be sown in late winter or early spring in a greenhouse. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter, planting them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.