TUPELO GUM. 65 



The wood is heavy, strong, soft, very tough, and hard to split 

 and work, inclined to check, and not durable in contact with the 

 soil ; light yellow or nearly white in color ; the thick sapwood 

 lighter, often hardly distinguishable. It is used for the hubs of 

 wheels, rollers in glass factories, ox yokes, and piles. 



Very little has been cut in tliis State for lumber. In the last 

 few years, however, it has been coining into use as a cheap mate- 

 rial for boxes and trucking barrels. 



Nyssa aquatica, Marshall. 



(TUPELO GUM.) 



A large tree, with dark brown, deeply furrowed, or, in old speci- 

 mens, scaly, smoothish bark, reaching a height of 100 and a 

 diameter of 4 feet. 



It occurs from southern Virginia to Georgia, through the Gulf 

 states to Texas, and through Arkansas and southern Missouri to 

 Illinois ; reaching its best development in the cypress swamps of 

 western Louisiana and southeastern Texas. 



In this State it is confined to the deep swamps of the coastal 

 plain, where it grows with cypress, water ash and black gum, 

 attaining a height of 80 and a diameter of 4 feet above the 

 trumpet-shaped base. (Fig. 10, p. 64.) 



Seed years are frequent. Young trees are common along moistj 

 deep swamps, in open woods, and in spots where the cypress has 

 been removed. The large swollen butt, 8 to 15 feet in diameter, 

 is usually hollow, and there is frequently also a hollow in the top 

 of the stem, where a branch has been broken ofi". The middle of 

 the trunk is nearly always sound. 



The leaves are larger than in the preceding species, dark green 

 and smooth above and somewhat dowmy below. The yellowish- 

 green flowers appear in March and April. The oblong fruit is 

 dark purple and an inch or more in length. The smooth light 

 brown terminal buds are nearly round, the lateral buds minute. 

 The twigs are slightly angular, light brown and smooth, and much 

 thicker than those of the black gum. There are numerous lateral 

 and superficial roots. 



