Editing Nyssa sylvatica

{{Short description|Species of tree}}
{{Redirect|Blackgum|the settlement|Blackgum, Oklahoma}}
{{speciesbox
|name = Tupelo
|image = Nyssa_sylvatica_v_sylvatica.jpg
|image_caption = Foliage and almost mature fruit
|status = LC
|status_system = IUCN3.1
|status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 11 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Stritch, L. |date=2018 |title=''Nyssa sylvatica'' |volume=2018 |page=e.T61990588A61990590 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T61990588A61990590.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref>
|genus = Nyssa
|species = sylvatica
|authority = Marshall
|range_map = Nyssa sylvatica range map.jpg
|range_map_caption = Natural range
}}

'''''Nyssa sylvatica''''', commonly known as '''tupelo''', '''black tupelo''', '''black gum''' or '''sour gum''',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ign.ku.dk/arboretum-hoersholm/plant_descriptions/october_nyssa_sylvatica/ |title=Tupelo, Black gum, sour gum - Nyssa sylvatica |date=29 September 2010 |publisher=[[University of Copenhagen]] |access-date=May 15, 2018}}</ref>{{efn|It is also referred to as blackgum or sourgum.<ref name=klingaman2000>{{cite web |title=Plant of the Week: Tupelo (Blackgum, Sourgum)|last=Klingaman|first=Gerald|date=8 September 2000|url=https://www.uaex.uada.edu/yard-garden/resource-library/plant-week/blackgum.aspx|website=U of A Division of Agriculture Research & Extension, Cooperative Extension Service|publisher=University of Arkansas|access-date=16 October 2024|language=en}}</ref>}} is a medium-sized [[deciduous]] [[tree]] native to eastern North America from the coastal [[Northeastern United States]] and southern [[Ontario]] south to central [[Florida]] and eastern [[Texas]], as well as [[Mexico]].

==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>

==Description==
<!---Overlapping parallel descriptions text should be integrated--->
[[Image:Nyssa sylvatica JPG1b.jpg|right|thumb|Leaves in the autumn]]
[[File:NyssaSylvaticaTrunk.jpg|thumb|right|Trunk of a mature tree]]
''Nyssa sylvatica'' grows to {{convert|20|-|25|m|ft|sp=us}} tall, rarely to {{convert|35|m|ft|sp=us}}, with a trunk diameter of {{convert|50|-|100|cm|in|sp=us}}, rarely up to {{convert|170|cm|abbr=on|sp=us}}. These trees typically have a straight trunk with the branches extending outward at right angles.<ref name=Werthner /> The [[Bark (botany)|bark]] is dark gray and flaky when young, but it becomes furrowed with age, resembling [[alligator]] hide on very old stems. The twigs of this tree are reddish-brown, usually hidden by a greyish skin. The pith is chambered with greenish partitions.

The [[leaves]] vary in size and shape. They can be oval, elliptical, or obovate, and {{convert|5|–|12|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=on}} long. They have lustrous upper surfaces, with entire, often wavy margins. The foliage turns purple in autumn, eventually becoming an intense bright scarlet. Deer are extremely fond of the leaves on seedlings and saplings, to the point where large populations of them can make establishment of the tree almost impossible. For comparison, mature trees are largely left alone.

The [[flower]]s are very small, in greenish-white in clusters at the top of a long stalk and a rich source of nectar for bees. They are often [[dioecious]] so a male and female tree in proximity is required to set seed, however, many trees are also [[Polygamo-dioecious#Polygamous|polygamo-dioecious]], which means they have both male and female flowers on the same tree. The [[fruit]] is a black-blue, ovoid stone fruit, about 10&nbsp;mm long with a thin, oily, bitter-to-sour tasting flesh and very popular with small bird species. There are from one to three fruits together on a long slender stalk. They are a valuable energy food for birds, especially the [[American robin]].

''Nyssa sylvatica'' forms a large deep taproot when young that makes transplanting difficult. Because of this, it is fairly uncommon in cultivation and the nursery trade.

Additional characteristics include:
* Bark: Light reddish brown, deeply furrowed and scaly. Branchlets at first pale green to orange, sometimes smooth, often downy, later dark brown.
* Wood: Pale yellow, sapwood white; heavy, strong, very tough, hard to split, not durable in contact with the soil. Used for turnery. Sp. gr., 0.6353; weight of cu. ft., 39.59.
* Winter buds: Dark red, obtuse, one-fourth of an inch long. Inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot, becoming red before they fall.
* Leaves: Alternate, often crowded at the end of the lateral branches, simple, linear, oblong to oval, two to five inches (127&nbsp;mm) long, one-half to three inches (76&nbsp;mm) broad, wedge-shaped or rounded at base, entire, with margin slightly thickened, acute or acuminate. They come out of the bud conduplicate, coated beneath with rusty tomentum, when full grown are thick, dark green, very shining above, pale and often hairy beneath. Feather-veined, midrib and primary veins prominent beneath. In autumn they turn bright scarlet, or yellow and scarlet. Petioles one-quarter to one-half an inch long, slender or stout, terete or margined, often red.
* Flowers: May, June, when leaves are half grown. Polygamodiœcious, yellowish green, borne on slender downy peduncles. Staminate in many-flowered heads; pistillate in two to several flowered clusters.
* Calyx: Cup-shaped, five-toothed.
* Corolla: Petals five, imbricate in bud, yellow green, ovate, thick, slightly spreading, inserted on the margin of the conspicuous disk.
* Stamens: Five to twelve. In staminate flowers exserted, in pistillate short, often wanting.
* Pistil: Ovary inferior, one to two-celled; style stout, exserted, reflexed above the middle. Entirely wanting in sterile flower. Ovules, one in each cell.
* Fruit: Fleshy drupe, one to three from each flower cluster. Ovoid, two-thirds of an inch long, dark blue, acid. Stone more or less ridged. October.<ref name=Keeler>{{cite book
 | last =Keeler
 | first =Harriet L.
 | title =Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them
 | url =https://archive.org/details/ournativetreesa02keelgoog
 | publisher =Charles Scribner's Sons
 | year =1900
 | location =New York
 | pages =[https://archive.org/details/ournativetreesa02keelgoog/page/n215 186]–189 }}</ref>

{{clear}}

==Distribution and habitat==
''Nyssa sylvatica'' grows in various uplands and in alluvial stream bottoms from southwestern [[Maine]] and [[New York (state)|New York]], to extreme southern [[Ontario]], central [[Michigan]], [[Illinois]], and central [[Missouri]], south to southern Florida, eastern [[Texas]], and eastern [[Oklahoma]].<ref>[http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/nyssyl/all.html Coladonato, Milo 1992. ''Nyssa sylvatica''. In: Fire Effects Information System, &#91;Online&#93;. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory.] Retrieved 2012-09-30.</ref> Optimum development is made on lower slopes and terraces in the [[Southeastern United States]].<ref name="Black Tupelo">[http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/nyssa/silvatica.htm “Black Tupelo”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101207005620/http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/nyssa/silvatica.htm |date=2010-12-07 }} US Forest Service. Retrieved 2012-09-30.</ref> It also occurs locally in the mountains of eastern and southern [[Mexico]], where it is found in the southern [[Sierra Madre Oriental]] and [[Sierra Madre de Oaxaca]] of Hidalgo, Puebla, and Veracruz states and the [[Chiapas Highlands]] of Chiapas.<ref name="redlist">Mario González-Espinosa, Jorge A. Meave, Francisco G. Lorea-Hernández, Guillermo Ibarra-Manríquez and Adrian C. Newton, eds (2011). ''The Red List of Mexican Cloud Forest Trees''. Fauna & Flora International, Cambridge, UK. 2011. {{ISBN|9781903703281}}</ref>

''Nyssa sylvatica'' is found in a wide range of climates, including [[Highland|upland]] and [[wetland]] [[habitat]]s, in its extensive range. It commonly grows in both the creek bottoms of the southern coastal plains, to altitudes of about {{convert|900|m|ft|abbr=on}} in the [[Appalachian Mountains|Southern Appalachians]].<!---Elevation range in Mexico?---> These trees grow best on well-drained, light-textured soils on the low ridges of second bottoms and on the high flats of silty alluvium. In the uplands it grows best on the loams and clay loams of lower slopes and coves.

The species occurs in 35 different forest cover types.<ref name="Black Tupelo" /> When found on drier upper slopes and ridges, it is seldom of log size or quality.<ref name="Black Tupelo" /><!---But of log size in richer habitats?--->

In Mexico it is a common species in montane [[cloud forest]]s, particularly in moist or riparian habitats, between {{Convert|1,000 and 2,200|m|abbr=on}} in elevation.<ref name="redlist" />

==Ecology==
The flowers are an important source of [[nectar]] and its [[fruit]]s are important to many [[bird]]s and [[mammal]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Little|first=Elbert L.|title=The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region|publisher=Knopf|location=New York|year=1980|isbn=0-394-50760-6|page=620}}</ref> Hollow trunks provide nesting or denning opportunities for [[bee]]s and various mammals. It is among the longest living non-clonal flowering plants in eastern North America, capable of obtaining ages of over 650 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~adk/oldlisteast/#spp|url-status=dead|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20210418090754/http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~adk/oldlisteast/#spp|archive-date=18 April 2021|title=Eastern OLDLIST|year=2013|publisher=Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research, Inc. and the Tree Ring Laboratory of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia University}}</ref>

===Wildlife===
[[Image:Nyssa sylvatica with mature fruit.jpg|right|thumb|Plant showing autumn coloring and mature fruit]]
''Nyssa sylvatica'' is an important food source for many migrating birds in the fall [autumn]. Its early color change ([[foliar fruit flagging]]) is thought to attract birds to the available fruit, which ripen before many other fall fruits and berries. The fruit is quite marked, dark blue, in clusters of two or three. The sour fruits are eagerly sought by many kinds of birds, including: [[American robin]], [[Swainson's thrush]], [[gray-cheeked thrush]], [[hermit thrush]], [[wood thrush]], [[northern cardinal]], [[northern mockingbird]], [[blue jay]], [[red-bellied woodpecker]], [[yellow-bellied sapsucker]], [[northern flicker]], [[pileated woodpecker]], [[eastern phoebe]], [[brown thrasher]], [[eastern bluebird]], [[European starling]], [[scarlet tanager]], [[grey catbird|gray catbird]], [[cedar waxwing]], and [[American crow]],{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} all primarily eastern North American birds migrating or residing year-round within the tree's range.

The limbs of these trees often deteriorate early, and the decayed holes make excellent dens for [[squirrel]]s, [[raccoon]]s, [[Virginia opossum]]s, as well as nesting sites for feral [[honeybee]]s.

The leaves are [[leaf miner|mined]] by larvae of the [[tupelo leafminer moth]] and eaten by [[forest tent caterpillar]]s.<ref>{{cite book |title=Silvics of North America|volume=2: Hardwoods|editor-last1=Burns|editor-first1=Russell M.|editor-last2=Honkala|editor-first2=Barbara H.|isbn=978-0160292606|chapter=''Nyssa sylvatica'' Marsh.|publisher=US Department of Agriculture|location=Washington DC|year=1990|last1=McGee|first1=Charles E.|last2=Outcalt|first2=Kenneth W.|chapter-url=https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_2/nyssa/silvatica.htm|access-date=5 October 2022|url=https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/table_of_contents.htm|id=Agriculture Handbook 654}}</ref>

{{clear}}

==Uses==
[[File:2014-11-02 12 47 05 Black Tupelo during autumn at The College of New Jersey in Ewing, New Jersey.JPG|right|thumb|Tree in autumn]]

===Cultivation===
''Nyssa sylvatica'' is cultivated as an [[ornamental tree]] in parks and large gardens, where it is often used as a specimen or shade tree. The tree is best when grown in sheltered but not crowded positions, developing a pyramidal shape in youth, and spreading with age. The stem rises to the summit of the tree in one tapering unbroken shaft, the branches come out at right angles to the trunk and either extend horizontally or droop a little, making a long-narrow, cone-like head.

The leaves are short-petioled and so have little individual motion, but the branches sway as a whole. The spray is fine and abundant and lies horizontally so that the foliage arrangement is not unlike that of the [[beech]] ''(Fagus)''. Its often spectacular autumnal coloring, with intense reds to purples, is highly valued in landscape settings. It is claimed to be the most fiery and brilliant of the 'brilliant group' that includes [[Acer (genus)|maple]], [[Cornus (plant)|dogwood]], [[sassafras]], and [[Liquidambar|sweet gum]], as well as various species of tupelo.<ref name=Keeler />

In the UK the [[cultivar]] 'Wisley Bonfire' has gained the [[Royal Horticultural Society]]'s [[Award of Garden Merit]].<ref name = RHSPF>{{cite web | url= https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/110147/i-Nyssa-sylvatica-i-Wisley-Bonfire-(m)/Details
| title = RHS Plantfinder - ''Nyssa sylvatica'' 'Wisley Bonfire' | access-date=4 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf | title = AGM Plants - Ornamental | date = July 2017 | page = 69 
| publisher = Royal Horticultural Society | access-date = 13 April 2018}}</ref>

===Honey production===
''Nyssa sylvatica'' is a major source of wild honey in many areas within its range. Hollow sections of black gum trunks were formerly used as [[Beehive#Bee gums|bee gums]] by [[beekeeper]]s.<ref>{{cite book|author=Crane, Ethel Eva|title=The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WVh3AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA305|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|page=305|isbn=9781136746697}}</ref>

===Wood===
The wood of ''Nyssa sylvatica'' is heavy, hard, cross-grained, and difficult to split, especially after drying. This resistance to splitting led to its use for making [[mallet|maul]]s, [[pulley]]s, [[wheel|wheel hub]]s, [[roller (agricultural tool)|agricultural roller]]s, [[bowl (vessel)|bowl]]s, and [[road surface|paving blocks]].<ref name=Werthner /> The wood is also used for pallets, rough floors, pulpwood, and firewood. Since the wood is very tough and resistant to wear, it has been used for [[Shuttle (weaving)|shuttles]] in weaving. Because it is resistant to wear and very readily accepts creosote-based preservatives it is considered to be a premier wood for making railroad ties.<ref>Pages 12 & 26 "The Tie Guide 2nd edition (2016)" Prepared for the Railway Tie Association (RTA) by David A. Webb and Geoffrey V. Webb</ref> The wood's resistance to wear and some acids has led to its use as factory flooring.

===Teeth-cleaning twig===
It was also used traditionally by Native Americans as a [[teeth-cleaning twig]].<ref name=klingaman2000/>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040814064417/http://www.fw.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/nsylvatica.htm Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Source]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040819074509/http://www.hcs.ohio-state.edu/hcs/TMI/Plantlist/ny_atica.html Ohio State University Source]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040819044837/http://www.hrt.msu.edu/ash.alt/tupelo.htm Michigan State University Source]
* [http://www.hort.net/profile/nys/nyssy/ Hort.net profile]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120330120833/http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/frame/nysy.htm ''Nyssa sylvatica'' images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101213162137/http://www.plantmaps.com/nrm/nyssa-sylvatica-black-tupelo-native-range-map.php Interactive Distribution Map for Nyssa sylvatica]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q3179665}}

[[Category:Nyssa (genus)|sylvatica]]
[[Category:Flora of the Appalachian Mountains]]
[[Category:Trees of Northern America]]
[[Category:Trees of humid continental climate]]
[[Category:Garden plants of North America]]
[[Category:Ornamental trees]]
[[Category:Plants described in 1785]]
[[Category:Chiapas montane forests]]
[[Category:Cloud forest flora of Mexico]]
[[Category:Flora of the Sierra Madre Oriental]]