738 



The Tupelos 



V- 



staminate flowers are on slender pedicels, in long-stalked umbels; the pistillate 2 

 together, at the end of a long stalk, with ovate blunt petals. The fruit is in clus- 

 ters of 2 on a stalk 2 to 6 cm. long, oval to elHptic, 10 to 13 mm. long, dark 

 blue; the acrid pulp is. rather thin; stone (>val, prominently ribbed. 



Tlie wood i^ veiT similar to that of the Sour gum, of which this tree is some- 

 times considered a race or variety. 



X..'' 



, *' .' 



.\ 



2. SOUR GU]\I Nyssa sylvatica Marshal 

 Nyssa multiflora Wangenheim 



This well-known tree, also called Tupelo, Tupelo gum, Black gum, Yellow 

 gum, Pcppe ridge, and Stinkwood, is of frequent occurrence in wet or moist soil, 

 from ]\Iainc to Ontario, Michigan, Florida and Texas, attaining its greatest di- 



FiG. 675. Sour Gum, New York Botanical Garden. 



mensions, 50 meters high, and a trunk diameter of 1.5 m., in the southern Alle- 

 ghany Mountains. 



The trunk is stout, thick and straight, the branches slender, widely spreading or 



