TUPELO 
849 
gum. Water gum. Water tupelo. This 
species has a much more restricted range 
than white tupelo, extending only from 
Montgomery County, Maryland to Florida 
and central Alabama. A large tree, attain¬ 
ing a maximum height of over 100 feet, 
with a rough, ridged, dark-brown bark. The 
oval leaves are smaller than those of the 
white tupelo, smooth on both sides, blunt- 
pointed, with entire margins. The blos¬ 
soms appear in April and May and the 
dark blue plum-shaped fruit in early fall; 
the staminate flowers are clustered, the pis¬ 
tillate are two together, instead of solitary 
as in the white tupelo. Black tupelo thru- 
out its range is usually associated with 
white tupelo, but it often extends to higher 
land. It is abundant along lake margins 
and on the bottomland of small streams. 
The fruit, which falls into the water, some¬ 
times accumulates in large heaps in shel¬ 
tered coves. 
The beginning of the honey flow is de¬ 
termined by the length of time the low¬ 
lands are covered by water. If there has 
been no overflow in early spring the trees 
in northern Florida will bloom in March, 
and the honey flow will last for three 
weeks. But if there has been much rain 
and the rivers have flooded the bottom¬ 
lands, the blooming time will be much de¬ 
layed. The honey when first gathered is 
thick, light in color, and very mild in fla¬ 
vor; but with age it grows darker colored 
and stronger flavored. 
Sour Gum (Nyssa sylvatica ). Pepper- 
idge. Black gum. This large forest tree, 
100 to 150 feet tall, is the giant of the 
tupelos, and has a much wider distribution 
than any other species. It extends from 
the Kennebec River, Maine; Ontario and 
southern Michigan; to the Kissimmee Riv¬ 
er, Florida; southeastern Missouri and the 
Brazos River, Texas. The seventh edition 
of Gray’s Manual ranks the black tupelo 
( N. hi flora ) as a variety of this species, 
and undoubtedly beekeepers very often 
confuse the two trees. While pepperidge 
grows on high land it requires moist soil. 
In North Carolina the black tupelo (IV. bi¬ 
flora) is common in the southeastern 
swamps, while pepperidge (N. sylvatica) 
extends westward to the center of the State. 
Both species are called black gum in this 
State, and the beekeepers do not distin¬ 
guish carefully between them. 
The bark and leaves of the sour gum or 
pepperidge are very similar to those of the 
black tupelo. The flowers open from April 
to June according to the locality; the stam¬ 
inate are in dense clusters, the pistillate 3 
together. While the bloom yields nectar, 
it is apparently of much less value to the 
beekeeper than either the white or black 
tupelo. 
Ogeche Plum (A. Ogeche ). Ogeche lime. 
Wild lime tree. Gopher plum. A small tree, 
reaching a maximum height of 60 feet, but 
seldom more than 30 to 40 feet tall. Corn- 
Scrub tupelo of Georgia. 
mon in the river swamps of South Carolina, 
Georgia and Florida. The greenish-yellow 
flowers appear from January to May, the 
staminate in round heads, the pistillate 
solitary. The fruit is red and very acid. 
In Florida it has been reported to bloom 
just before the white tupelo and to yield 
a white, thin honey. 
Bush Tupelo ( N. acuminata). This spe¬ 
cies is a mere shrub, growing 6 to 10 feet 
tall, and peculiar to the pineland swamps 
near the coast of Georgia. The bark is 
smooth and the branches and twigs red. 
