By Tony Dean 

Bumelia is one of our more important wildlife browsing plants, but it is not particularly well known by many ranchers. It does, however, have a long list of common names, including Chittamwood, Gum-elastic, Wooly-bucket bumelia, Gum bumelia, Woolly buckthorn, and others. It is native to much of the southern United States, including most of Texas except the extreme north and western parts of the state. This rangy shrub or small tree is usually found as a bush growing 12 to 18 feet tall or less. It can, however, under ideal growing conditions, reach 45 feet in height. I have seen a Bumelia about 30 feet tall growing along the Red River in Northern Clay County.

Bumelia is a perennial root-sprouting shrub. It is often found as a single plant or group of two or three plants, but can be found in larger colonies.
The thick branches can form a good cover for many forms of wildlife, including quail. The trunk will often be straight, with many zigzagging branches. The bark is usually blotched dark grey and reddish-brown and the short branches have spine-tipped branchlets that resemble thorns.
The leaves are clustered on the short branches and are dark green on the top and lighter green on the bottom.

Bumelia often retains its leaves for extended periods and is considered a semi-evergreen. The flowers are tiny white in clusters growing at the bottom of the leaves, and the fruit is a green berry that turns shiny black. The crude protein for new leaves can reach 20 percent to 25 percent in spring and mature leaves in the fall can be at 14 percent. Cattle will browse on the shrub at times, but sheep, goats, and deer are usually heavy users.

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The 2017 Texas Grazing Land Conference, sponsored by TXGLC and others, is scheduled for Aug. 29-31, 2017, in Waco, Texas, at the Waco Convention Center. The conference is entitled “Solutions for Healthy Ecosystems and Profitable Ranching,” and will feature practicing ranchers and others sharing what works for them in sustainable ranching. Wyman Meinzer, State Photographer of Texas, will entertain with “The Legend of San Antonio Veijo.” Other speakers will include Walt Davis on “How Not To Go Broke In Ranching,” Ken Clayton addressing “Profitability and Stewardship: Can You Achieve Both?” Dr. Kelly Reyna on “Grazing for Quail,” and others addressing range and wildlife questions. The meeting will conclude with a tour of two area ranches. Go to ww.texasglc.org for meeting details and registration information or follow the link www.regonline.com/txgrazland2017.