DENDROLOGY. 



219 



NYSS A. 



?gamia DitEcia. Linn. San^alacete. Juss. Sudorific, vvreativc, 



asir invent. 



Tupelo. Nyssa aquatica. 



The Tupelo begins lo 

 appear in the lower part of 

 New Hampshire, where the 

 climate is tempered by the 

 vicinity of the sea, but it is 

 most abundant in the south- 

 ern parts of I^ew York, New 

 Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

 It is called indiscriminately 



an 



rce. 



S, 



our 



plate lviii. 



Fig. I.j "A leaf. Fig. 2. The fruit. 



Tupelo, Gum 



Gum and Pippcridgc. The 

 first of these denominations 

 is the mdst common, the 

 second is wholly misapplied, 

 as no self-condensing fluid 

 distils from the tree, and the 

 third is used only by the 

 descendants of the Dutch settlers of New York. The tupelo 

 grows only in wet grounds on the borders of swamps and on the 

 banks of rivulets and other waters. 



This tree seldom rises above 40 or 45 feet in height, with a 

 diameter of 15 or 20 inches. Its limbs, which spring five or six 

 feet from the ground, affect a horizontal direction : the shoots of 

 the two preceding years are commonly simple, and widely 

 divergent from the branches. The trunk is of an uniform size 

 from its base : while it is less than ten inches in diameter the 

 bark is not remarkable, but on full-grown and vigorous stocks it 

 is thick, deeply furrowed, and, unlike the bark of any other tree, 

 divided into lioxigons, which are sometimes very regular. The 

 leaves are three inches long, oboval, smooth, slightly glaucous 



