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Nyssa sylvatica

This plant is not currently for sale.  This is an archive page preserved for informational use.  

Blackgum is a stately, medium-sized hardwood tree extremely desirable for its spectacular scarlet fall foliage and its wildlife appeal. It is adapted to a very wide range of habitats from standing water to dry slopes from east Texas to southern Maine. (In NC, it is reported in the mountains, the piedmont and the coastal plain.) Blackgum reaches up to 80 feet tall on moist sites, generally much shorter in the mountains. Its form is handsome, straight-trunked, with a wide, rounded crown, and it is an excellent choice for shade tree or street tree. Since it is tolerant of wet soils as well as dry soils, it is also a good choice for pond side. Its autumn colors — adjectives such as “fiery” and “brilliant” are not uncommon — occur fairly early in the fall season, calling birds to partake of the early-maturing seed crop. While the flowers are visually insignificant, they are an important nectar source for bees in late spring, and Blackgum honey is highly prized. The fruit are small and dark blue and are enjoyed by a whole host of East coast songbirds. The tree is dioecious, and female trees need a male tree in the vicinity for fruit set. According to Wikipedia, Blackgum is the longest living, non-clonal flowering plant in Eastern North America, capable of obtaining ages of over 650 years!

Key Info

Common Names: Blackgum, Sourgum, Tupelo, Black Tupelo, Tupelo gum, Pepperridge
Family Names:
Plant Type:
Light Requirement: , , , ,
Moisture Requirement: , , ,
Leaf Retention:
Bloom Times: , ,
Flower Color: White, Green, Brown
Special Characteristics: , , , , ,

Additional Info

Habit: The stem (up to 3 feet in diameter) rises to the summit of the tree in one tapering unbroken shaft; the branches come out at right angles to the trunk and either extend horizontally or droop a little, making a long-narrow, cone-like head (Wikipedia) with numerous short, curled spur shoots present. With age the crown becomes more rounded. The bark is dark gray and flaky when young, but it becomes furrowed with age. There is a tap root and fleshy, non-fibrous root system.
Height: 30-50' tall (or more)
Spread: 30'
Soil Conditions: Various acid soils; gravelly, sandy, sandy loam, medium loam, clay loam, clay.
Leaves: Alternate, often crowded at the end of the lateral branches, simple, pinnately veined, elliptic to obovate in shape with an entire, often wavy margin near the tip, abruptly pointed at the tip, wedge-shaped or rounded at base, 3 to 5 inches long, up to 2 inches wide on stalks 1-1 1/2 inches long. In summer they are waxy, lustrous dark green above and pale and often hairy beneath, where the midrib and primary veins are prominent. In fall leaves turn fluorescent yellow, orange, scarlet and purple. A favorite of deer.
Flowers (or reproductive structures: Primarily dioecious, they often will have a few perfect flowers on the tree as well as the male or female flowers. Small, greenish-white flowers appear in spring as the leaves unfold, female flowers in sparse clusters on long stalks arising from the leaf axils and male flowers in dense heads.
Fruit: A dark, blackish blue drupe, ~1/2 inch long, with a thin, oily, bitter-to-sour tasting fleshy coating, technically edible but quite sour ("Sourgum"), surrounding a single, ribbed pit, ~1/3 inch long, ripening in late summer and fall. There are from one to three fruits together on a long slender stalk. They are a valuable energy food for birds.
Natural Distribution: Low wet woods, bottomlands and around wet places, but also upland forests and rocky slopes -- an extensive distribution. It commonly grows in both the creek bottoms of the southern coastal plains, to altitudes of about 3,000 feet in the Southern Appalachians (FEIS).
USDA Hardiness Zone: 3 to 9
USDA Wetland Indicator Status in NC: FAC
Pollination: Information about insect pollinators of the flowers is scant, although bees are attracted to the nectar of the flowers (Illinoiswildflowers.info)
Wildlife Connections: Blackgum foliage is a host plant for a relatively few insects. However, see Wikipedia and Illinoiswildflowers.info for very long listings of birds which feed on the berries -- all primarily eastern North American birds migrating or residing year-round within the tree's range -- and mamals tht eat the fruit The limbs of these trees often deteriorate early, and the decayed holes make excellent dens for squirrels, raccoons, Virginia opossums, black bears and foxes, reptiles, tree frogs, bats, as well as nesting sites for honeybees
Propagation: By seed.