Plant · P-1013

Black Gum

Nyssa sylvatica

Black gum is a slow-growing native tree whose flowers produce tupelo honey, coveted enough among beekeepers that this is really a nectar tree that happens to carry a hive. Its dark blue autumn fruit feeds a wide range of birds and mammals and can be eaten by people too, sharply acid and better suited to preserves than eating out of hand. The wood twists and warps too much for structural use, but its tangled grain resists splitting, which historically made it good for wheel hubs, pulleys and beehives. It tolerates almost anything in the way of light and moisture except one thing: alkaline soil, since it grows only on acidic ground, and it needs both a male and a female tree nearby to set any fruit at all.