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Big City, Big Trees
2. Native Flora Garden
Black Tupelo, Sour Gum (Nyssa sylvatica)
| Native Habitat: | Eastern North America |
Photo: Uli Lorimer.
Autumn is the prime season for the black tupelo. Its leaves take on hues of scarlet, purple, orange, and yellow before falling off. The tree's inky-blue fruit gives Nyssa sylvatica a second common name, sour gum. Humans find the berries too bitter to eat, but robins, blue jays, cedar waxwings, scarlet tanagers, and a number of other birds gobble them up.
Notable Neighbors:
- 2A. Sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
- 2B. Black tupelo, sour gum (Nyssa sylvatica)
- 2C. Common persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)
- 2D. English oak (Quercus robur)
- 2E. Dove tree, handkerchief tree (Davidia involucrata)
- 2F. Carolina or Canadian poplar (Populus x canadensis)