NYSSACEAE 



Black Tupelo. Blackgum 



Nyssa sylvatica Marsh. 



HABIT. A medium-sized tree 40-80 feet high and 1-3 feet 

 in diameter (max. 1 25 by 6 feet) ; rounded crown with hori- 

 zontal branches. 



LEAVES. Alternate; simple; deciduous; 2-5 inches long; 

 obovate; entire or wavy-margined; thick and lustrous; dark 

 green above, paler and often hairy below; scarlet in autumn. 



FLOWERS. Regular; polygamo-dioecious ; small; staminate 

 in heads; green-white; appearing with the leaves. 



FRUIT. A fleshy, ovoid, blue-black drupe Vi-Vi inch long 

 with indistinctly ribbed pit (distinctly ribbed in swamp tupelo, 

 the variety biflora (Walt.) Sarg., of the Coastal Plain). 



TWIGS. Slender; green to red-brown; smooth, pith dia- 

 phragmed. Winter buds: terminal present, scaly, K inch long, 

 ovoid, yellow-brown. 



BARK. Thick; red-brown; deeply fissured and broken into 

 conspicuous square blocks. 



WOOD. Important; rather heavy and hard; fine-textured; 

 diffuse-porous; light-colored; used for furniture, containers, etc. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Intolerant; moist sites; rapid 

 growth; shallow, lateral roots; scattered and never abundant. 

 The genus Nussa is placed in the family Cornaceae by some authors 

 including the check list (1953), it is considered by most, however, 

 to constitute a separate family, the Nyssaceae. 



* * * 



Water Tupelo 

 Nyssa aquatica L. 

 This species, which is an important timber species, occurs 

 in pure stands or mixed with cypress in the southern swamps 

 that are often under water. It diff"ers from black tupelo in the 

 following ways; leaves 5-7 inches long, oblong-obovate, entire 

 or sometimes irregularly toothed; fruit red-purple, 1 inch long, 

 with conspicuously ribbed pit; bark thin, gray-brown, with 

 scaly ridges; buds globose, not over Vq inch long; and the butt 

 of the tree is often conspicuously swollen. 



* * * 

 Ogeechee Tupelo 



Nyssa ogeche Bartr. 

 This small, rare tree of the Coastal Plain from South Caro- 

 lina to Florida resembles water tupelo and is distinguished from 

 it by its red fruit containing a pit with broad, thin, papery 

 wings. Bear tupelo, Nyssa ursina Small, is a shrub or small tree 

 of northwestern Florida. 



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