Photo: Mike Tilley, CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Ogeechee Tupelo

Nyssa ogeche

Also called Ogeechee lime, white tupelo, bee-tupelo, sour tupelo-gum.

The tree behind tupelo honey, with tart red fruit known as Ogeechee lime on the females, for ground that floods or stays wet.

Honey treeTolerates wet soilEdibleWildlife valueFall color

Type: Medium tree
Mature height: 25–45 ft
USDA zones: 6–9
Growth rate: Medium
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Average, Wet
Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, stream banks, swamps and wet flats
Native range: Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina See what is native in your state

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Ogeechee tupelo is a small, crooked tree of the river swamps of the coastal plain, often with several trunks and a swollen base. Bees make tupelo honey from its nectar, and beekeepers have planted thousands of acres of it along the lower Apalachicola River. The fruit, called Ogeechee lime, has a sour flesh that goes into preserves and drinks. Silvics of North America calls the tree scarce, and NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in South Carolina. Plant it at a pond edge, in a rain garden or along a ditch that stands full after storms.

Size, growth and what to expect

Ogeechee tupelo grows at a medium pace, about a foot and a half a year in our growth estimator. Seedlings planted on a Florida lake shore grew almost 8 feet in three years and bore a good crop that year. Wild trees stand 25 to 35 feet, and garden trees reach 35 to 45 feet with a crown 25 to 35 feet wide.

The small greenish flowers open from late March into May, and the males in particular pour out nectar for the bees. The red fruit, an inch to an inch and a half long and the largest of any tupelo, ripens in July and August and hangs on into December. Birds eat it.

It grows wild only on the coastal plain, from the South Carolina coast to north and west Florida and south Alabama. It is most common along the Ogeechee, Altamaha and Suwannee Rivers. It grows on ground that floods for long spells, seldom more than 2 feet above the river.

How to grow Ogeechee Tupelo

Ogeechee tupelo wants full sun and a wet, acid soil, and it grows in standing water as long as the water moves a little. It will take part shade or a somewhat drier spot, but it needs shelter from harsh wind. Plant it 20 feet from a wall and clear of overhead wires, and set trees 25 feet apart.

Saplings ship potted. The long taproot makes an older tree hard to move, so plant it young and leave it in place. Plant in the dormant season, in a hole wider than the pot and deep enough for the taproot. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and mulch a wide ring clear of the trunk. Sow cleaned seed outdoors in fall, an inch deep. For spring, hold it damp in the refrigerator for 30 to 120 days first. Keep the seedbed wet, since seedlings die where the surface dries.

Water weekly through the first summer unless the ground stays wet. Keep a wide circle clear of grass, since a seedling in dense sod grows very slowly. Deer browse young tupelos, so guard the stem for the first few years. It needs little pruning.

Trees are male or female, and only females bear the red fruit, so plant three or more seedlings for a male and a female. Female trees begin to bear at about five years. Fallen fruit is messy on paving, so keep female trees away from walks and drives. The leaves turn yellow to deep purple in fall. Tupelo leaf miner, scale, rust and leaf spot turn up at times, but none is serious.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (8)

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