Part 38

Range: Virginia to southern Missouri, south to Texas, east to Florida.

Distinguishing Features: The Tupelo Gum is characterized by its large, irregularly toothed leaves and its oblong, purple fruits.

SOUR GUM Nyssa sylvatica Marsh.

Other Name: Black Gum.

Growth Form: Medium to large tree to 75 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 3 feet; crown rounded, often with many small, drooping branchlets.

Bark: Brown to black, often broken up into squarish blocks.

Twigs: Rather stout, reddish-brown, smooth, sometimes zigzag; leaf scars alternate, crescent-shaped, with 3 bundle traces. The pith is continuous but marked with distinct partitions.

Buds: Short-pointed, yellowish or reddish, smooth, about ⅛ inch long.

Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades abruptly pointed at the tip, tapering or rounded at the base, up to 6 inches long and usually about half as wide, smooth or with a few coarse teeth along the edges, dark green, shiny, and usually smooth on the upper surface, paler and usually somewhat hairy on the lower surface; leafstalks up to 1½ inches long, smooth or sparsely hairy. The leaves turn scarlet in the autumn.

Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne on separate trees, appearing after the leaves begin to unfold, greenish, very small, the staminate several in spherical clusters, the pistillate 2-several on long stalks arising from the leaf axils.

Fruit: Fleshy, oval, dark blue, up to ⅔ inch long, bitter, 1-seeded, ripening in October.

Wood: Heavy, strong, soft, not durable, pale yellow.

Uses: Pulpwood, gun-stocks, flooring; sometimes used as an ornamental.

Habitat: Dry wooded slopes, low woods.

Range: Maine across to Michigan and Wisconsin, south to Missouri and Texas, east to Florida.

Distinguishing Features: Sour Gum is easily confused with Persimmon, but differs by its leaves which are abruptly short-pointed at the tip, and by its twigs which have continuous pith marked by distinct partitions.

HOP HORNBEAM Ostrya virginiana (Mill.) K. Koch

Other Name: Ironwood.

Growth Form: Small tree up to 35 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 1 foot; crown usually rounded.

Bark: Brown and scaly at maturity.

Twigs: Slender, reddish-brown, sometimes hairy, tough to break; leaf scars alternate, crescent-shaped, slightly elevated, with 3 bundle traces.

Buds: Small, pointed at the tip.

Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades elliptic to ovate, pointed at the tip, rounded or tapering to the base, up to 5 inches long, finely doubly toothed, green and usually smooth on the upper surface, paler and usually slightly hairy on the lower surface; leafstalks up to ¼ inch long, hairy.

Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne separately but on the same tree. The staminate catkins are on the tree through the winter before opening in late April or May.

Fruit: Nutlets enclosed by an inflated bladder, crowded together in a cluster resembling hops.

Wood: Hard, strong, durable.

Use: Tool handles.

Habitat: Upland woods; rocky slopes; along streams.