Sideroxylon tenax, called the tough bully, is a plant species native to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and the southernmost part of North Carolina. It grows on dry, sandy soil in pine forests, pine-oak woodlands, and hummocks at elevations less than 100 m.Flora of North America Sideroxylon tenaxGoldblatt, P. 1991. In M. Johnson, Cytology. Pp. 15--22 in T. D. Pennington, The Genera of Sapotaceae. Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens.
Sideroxylon tenax is a shrub or tree up to 8 m (almost 27 feet) tall. Stems are armed with thorns. Leaves are up to 7 cm (2.8 inches) long, upper side green and sometimes shiny, underside covered with a layer of brown hairs. Flowers are white, up to 5 mm (0.2 inches) across, borne in groups of up to 40 flowers. Berries are very dark purple, almost black, spherical to egg-shaped, about 10 mm (0.4 inches) across.BONAP (Biota of North America Project) 2014 county distribution map, Sideroxylon tenaxRafinesque, Constantine Samuel. 1840. Autikon Botanikon (2): 73.Rafinesque, Constantine Samuel. 1838. Sylva Telluriana 35.Pennington, T. D. 1990. Sapotaceae. Flora Neotropica 52: 1–771.Wunderlin, R. P. 1998. Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida i–x, 1–806. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Plant Information Center, photos of specimens from University of North Carolina Herbarium, Sideroxylon tenax
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