Nyssa sylvatica Black Tupelo Black Gum Seed Brilliant Autumn Colour

LATIN NAME: Nyssa sylvatica

COMMON NAME: Black Tupelo

The black gum turns its glossy, oval leaves to the rich reds and oranges of the autumn, and the small, dark-blue fruits hang among them. The tall, upright, deciduous tree carries the oval, glossy, dark-green leaves with the fine veins and the small, greenish flowers in the tight clusters through the late spring, one of the stately, steady sights of the woodland edge, drawing the bees, to be followed by the small, dark-blue, oval fruits, and the leaves turn to the brilliant reds and oranges of the autumn. The tree is a fine, historic presence of the moist woodland, and it is a tree of the open, sunny to lightly shaded, deep, moist, well-drained ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The black gum is a historic subject of the plant science, and the autumn colours keep showing up in the work on the woodland trees. The way the glossy, oval leaves turn to the rich reds and oranges through the autumn has been studied closely, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the woodland trees, the autumn-colour trees and the members of the tupelo family. The fine veins of the leaves and the upright habit have also made it a fine study tree, and the black gum is a regular subject of the work on the autumn colours of the cool world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The black gum is a fine, stately tree of the woodland edge and the moist garden. The oval, glossy, dark-green leaves turn to the brilliant reds and oranges of the autumn, one of the fine, bright sights of the season, while the small, dark-blue, oval fruits feed the birds, and the small, greenish flowers open through the late spring, drawing the bees. It is one of the fine choices for the woodland edge, the moist garden and the study collection, and it has been written about in the horticultural and the botanical papers for the autumn colours and the stately ways. It is a fine, stately tree of the open, sunny to lightly shaded, deep, moist, well-drained garden.

Give the young tree the light shade and the moist soil, and the autumn colours will come in the years to come.

To grow the black gum from seed, sow the small, ridged seeds a centimetre and a half down in the deep tray of fine, gritty soil, then leave the pots out in the cold through the winter, and the young trees will come up in their own good time. With the sun or the light shade and the deep, moist, well-drained ground, the autumn colours will come in the years to come.

Tree with a dense, conical or sometimes flat-topped crown, many slender, nearly horizontal branches, and glossy foliage turning scarlet in autumn. An attractive, variable-shaped deciduous tree, black tupelo grows 30-60 ft. or taller, with horizontally spreading branches. A bottle-shaped trunk forms if grown in shallow standing water. Smooth, waxy, dark-green summer foliage changes to fluorescent yellow, orange, scarlet and purple in fall. (Trees in warmer climates may not be as colorful.) Berries are small and blue.