Nyssa was Sour Gum
- To: r*@california.com
- Subject: Nyssa was Sour Gum
- From: K* H*
- Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 09:24:18 -0700
Nyssa sylvatica or Tupelo or Black Gum are very common in northern
Maryland where I grew up. There they grow anywhere and are amongst the
first trees to recolonize clear-cut land and will in the wild will grow
quite large, to maybe even 25 meters or so. They always turn brilliant red
in autumn and do indeed have beautiful bark and branch structure.
If you can keep yours a little bit moist until its roots reach ground water
it should do very well.
I've got a small Nyssa sinensis which is similar but with somewhat larger,
slightly fuzzy, slightly toothed leaves. According to literature it needs
somewhat less water than N. sylvatica, mine hasn't turned color yet, still
bright lime-green. It should turn bright red soon.
Karl
about 37.5 degrees north latitude, 122 degrees west longitude.
At 19:39 10/14/1999 -0700, Barbara Sargent wrote:
>I found, at last, that the tree I thought might be a Pistacia Chinensis,
>isnt. But--it may be a Nyssa Sylvatica (Sour Gum tree). I saw one at a
>local nursery and looked for info in the Sunset Western Garden Book. The
>leaves shown in the picture aren't as pointy and elongated as those on the
>tree in my neighborhood and in the nursery.
>
>Have any of you had any experience with this tree? I want something for my
>parking strip which is deciduous and won't get too dense or huge because I
>don't want it to shade my front garden. This looks like it may fill the
>bill but the one I'm seeing may be young.
>
>Barbara
>
