Photo: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Black Gum (Tupelo)
Nyssa sylvatica
Also called black tupelo, sour gum, pepperidge.
Blazing scarlet fall color, superb bee forage, and one of the longest-lived hardwoods in the East.
Fall colorHoney treeWildlife valueTolerates wet soil
- Type
- Large tree
- Mature height
- 40–70 ft
- USDA zones
- 4–9
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Sun
- Full · Part
- Soil moisture
- Dry · Average · Wet
210
Black gum turns color earlier and more brilliantly than almost any other native tree, and its small spring flowers feed bees for weeks. It tolerates wet ground, dry ridges and clay, and cross-dated trees in New England have exceeded 600 years. Slow to start, worth the wait.
Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. Estimate growth for this species →
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