Black Tupelo
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 Black Tupelo foliage and young fruit
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| Nyssa sylvatica Marsh. |
Black Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), is a medium-sized deciduous tree which grows around 20-25 m (65-80 ft) tall (rarely to 35 m) and a trunk diameter of 50-100 cm (20-40 in) (rarely up to 170 cm). It is native to eastern North America, from New England and southern Ontario south to central Florida and eastern Texas.
The species is often known as simply Tupelo, but the full name Black Tupelo helps distinguish it from the other species of tupelo, some of which (Water Tupelo N. aquatica and Swamp Tupelo N. biflora) occur in the same area. The name Tupelo is of Native American origin. Other names include Blackgum, Pepperidge, Sourgum, and (on Martha's Vineyard) Beetlebung, this last perhaps from the mallet known as a beetle, used for hammering bungs, or stoppers, into barrels ("Beetlebung" and other tupelo lore). The scientific name means "nymph of the woods" in Greek.
The leaf of Black Tupelo is variable in size and shape. It can be oval, elliptical or obovate, and 5-12 cm (2-5 in) long. It is lustrous, with entire, often wavy margins. The leaf turns purple in autumn, eventually becoming an intense bright scarlet. The flower is very small, greenish-white in clusters at the top of a long stalk. The fruit is a black-blue, ovoid stone fruit, about 10 mm long with a thin, oily, bitter-to-sour flesh. There are from one to three such fruit together on a long slender stalk. The bark is dark grey 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 branches typically stand at right angles to the trunk.
The Black Tupelo grows best in swamps or lowlands that have poor drainage, though usually on drier sites than other tupelos. The limbs deteriorate early and the decayed holes make excellent dens for squirrels, raccoons, opossums and honeybees. Hollow sections of trunk were formerly used as bee gums by beekeepers.
[edit] Uses
The wood is hard, cross-grained, and difficult to split, especially after drying. It is used for pallets, rough floors, pulpwood and firewood. It is also grown as an ornamental tree in parks and large gardens, with its often spectacular intense red to purple fall color being highly valued.
The Black Tupelo is an important food source for many migrating birds in the fall. It's early color change (foliar fruit flagging) is thought to attract birds to the available fruit, which ripen before many other fall fruits and berries.
Birds recorded to feed on the fruit include: 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, Gray Catbird, Cedar Waxwing, and American Crow, all primarily eastern birds migrating or residing year-round within the tree's range.
