Editing Nyssa sylvatica (section)

==Names==
''Nyssa sylvatica''{{'s}} [[genus]] name, ''Nyssa'', refers to a [[ancient Greece|Greek]] [[naiad|water nymph]];<ref name=Werthner>{{cite book|last=Werthner|first=William B.|title=Some American Trees: An intimate study of native Ohio trees|year=1935|publisher=The Macmillan Company|location=New York|pages=xviii + 398 pp}}</ref> the species [[binomial nomenclature|epithet]] ''sylvatica'' refers to its woodland habitat.<ref name=Werthner />

The species' common name, tupelo, is of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] origin, coming from the [[Creek language|Creek]] words ''ito'' "tree" and ''opilwa'' "swamp"; it was in use by the mid-18th century.<ref>{{cite book|title=New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition}}</ref>

While these trees are often known as simply "[[Tupelo (tree)|tupelo]]", the fuller name, black tupelo, helps distinguish it from the other species of the tupelo genus ''Nyssa'', some of which have overlapping ranges, such as [[Nyssa aquatica|water tupelo]] (''N.&nbsp;aquatica'') and [[swamp tupelo]] (''N.&nbsp;biflora''). The name "tupelo" is used primarily in the [[Southern United States|American South]]; northward and in [[Appalachian Mountains|Appalachia]], the tree is more commonly called the black gum or the sour gum, although no part of the plant is particularly gummy.<ref name=Werthner /> Both of these names contrast it with a different tree species with a broadly overlapping range, the [[Liquidambar styraciflua|sweet gum]] (''Liquidambar styraciflua''), which does produce an aromatic resin.<ref name=Werthner /> Another common name used occasionally in the [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]] is '''pepperidge'''.<ref name=Werthner />

In Appalachia, the frequent variant is ''Nyssa sylvatica'' var. ''caroliniana'', which is sometimes called the Yellow Gum. Its leaflets are thinner and less glossy, "with rather long tips, the under surface persistently somewhat downy and covered with minute warty excrescences easily seen under an ordinary hand lens"<ref name="Peattie">{{cite book |last1=Peattie |first1=Donald Culross |title=A natural history of trees of eastern and central North America |date=1991 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston |isbn=978-0-395-58174-2 |pages=499–500 |url=https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof00peat/page/500/ |access-date=14 September 2020}}</ref> "Yellow Gum is not a swamp tree, like Black Gum, but an inhabitant of dry land, hills, and the coves of the southern Appalachians which it ascends to 3500 feet.<ref name=Peattie />

On [[Martha's Vineyard]], in [[Massachusetts]], this species is called "beetlebung", perhaps for its use in making the mallet known as a beetle, used for hammering [[bung]]s (stoppers) into barrels.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/forests/news/2014/why-do-they-call-it-a-gum-tree|author=Paxton, William C.|date=2014|title=Why Do They Call It a Gum Tree?|publisher=Penn State Extension|access-date=2014-09-14|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304113636/http://extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/forests/news/2014/why-do-they-call-it-a-gum-tree|url-status=dead}}</ref>