black tupelo

not listed

N5 - Secure

not listed

FAC - Facultative

FAC - Facultative

FAC - Facultative

Black tupelo is a slow growing, very long lived, deciduous tree rising on a single trunk from a large, deep taproot. In the northern parts of its range mature trees are usually 16′ to 66′ tall and and 20″ to 36″ in diameter at breast height. In the south, they are typically up to 98′ tall and 39″ in diameter. In favorable conditions, large individuals can reach 120′ in height and 48 ″ in diameter. It usually occurs in the understory in an intermediate crown position. It grows slowly when under a canopy, faster when the canopy is removed. It is very long lived, with some individuals over 650 years in age.

The trunk is straight. It is sometimes slightly swollen at the base when growing in water but never has buttress roots at the base. It is distinct into the upper part of the crown. The crown is often pyramidal when young, becoming oblong and irregularly rounded, and often flattening out with age. The branches are held more or less at right angles to the trunk. The lower branches are usually crooked and often droop downward.

The bark on young trees is dark gray to brownish-gray and is divided into vertical ridges. On mature trees the bark is thick and brown to gray, with ridges that are broken into oblong or irregular, hexagonal plates. Older bark is thick and deeply ridged, resembling alligator hide. The outer sections of bark are often broken off on one side of the tree due to exposure to freeze and thaw cycles.

The twigs are moderately slender, reddish-brown to gray, and often covered with fine short hairs. There are also dwarf branches, 1″ to 2″ long, curved, spur shoots. The pith is white and solid but has numerous hard, greenish, cross bars (diaphragmed). The leaf scars have 3 conspicuous bundle scars .

Terminal buds are egg-shaped, pointed, and about ¼″ long. They are covered with 5 yellowish-brown to dark reddish-brown scales. Lateral buds are similar but smaller and diverge widely from the twig.

The leaves are deciduous, alternate, unlobed, and somewhat leathery in texture. On young short shoots they are in clusters and appear almost whorled. On the major branches they are often in clusters at the tip. They are on 3 ⁄16″ to ¾″ long leaf stalks (petioles). The petioles are moderately to densely covered, sometimes only on upper or lower side, with spreading, branched, sometimes tangled hairs. The leaf blades are variable in shape but usually widest above the middle, inversely egg-shaped to elliptic, 2¼″ to 4¾″ long, and 1⅜″to 2½″ wide. They are broadly angled or tapered at the base and usually short tapered to a short, sharp point at the tip. The tip is sometimes rounded or angled. The upper surface is somewhat shiny and hairless. The lower surface is pale green but is not covered with a waxy bloom (glaucous). It may be either hairless or moderately hairy, especially along the veins. The lateral veins straight or only slightly arched toward the tip. They do not reach the margin. The margins are wavy, untoothed, and sometimes hairy. Rarely, there will be 1 to 3 coarse, broadly triangular teeth above the middle. In autumn the leaves turn various shades of yellow, orange, red, and purple.

Male and female flowers are borne on separate trees from May through June, after the leaves have unfurled but before they are fully grown, but there are usually a few to several flowers with both male and female parts (perfect flowers) on each branch. They appear in the leaf axils, especially on the short shoots. The male (staminate) flowers are in short, dense, unbranched clusters (racemes), or sometimes in umbrella-like, ¼″ to 1″ in diameter clusters (umbels). They are on greenish-white, hairy, ⅜″ to ¾″ long inflorescence stalks (peduncles). The female (pistillate) flowers are solitary or in clusters of mostly 2 to 5 on ¾″ to 2″ long peduncles.

The flowers are tiny and are not showy. They have 5 sepals, 5 to 10 petals, 8 to 15 stamens, and 1 style. The sepals (calyx) are green, fused at the base into a short tube, then separated into 5 tiny, 1 ⁄64″ to 1 ⁄16″ long teeth or a low rim. The petals are green to greenish-yellow or greenish-white, 1 ⁄64″ to 1 ⁄16″ long, oblong, and usually rounded at the tip. The stamens have slender, ⅛″ to ¼″ long stalks (filaments). The style is stout and bent or bent backward toward the tip. The stigma is unlobed.

The fruiting head (infructescence) is a cluster of 2 to 5 stone fruits (drupes). Each drupe is egg-shaped, 5 ⁄16″ to ½″ long, and glaucous. It is green at first, turning bluish-black with scattered, minute, white spots at maturity. The taste is bitter. The stone has 8 to 12 shallow ridges. The fruit ripens in September and October and drops to the ground from September through November.

16′ to 82′

There is no record for non-native trees.

Green to greenish-yellow

Moist to moderately moist. Upland and floodplain woodlands, wetlands, edges of swamps and streams. Moderately shade tolerant. Well-drained soil.

May through June

Tupelo leafminer (Antispila nysaefoliella)

Sources

2, 3, 4, 24, 29, 30.

Native to eastern and southeastern United States, including Wisconsin. Occasionally cultivated.

Not known to occur outside of cultivation in Minnesota

Until recently, the genus Nyssa was included in the dogwood family (Cornaceae) in the subfamily Nyssoideae. In 2016, with the publication of the APG IV system, it was placed in the family Nyssaceae.

Black tupelo thriving and showing off Autumn color, Freeborn County, MN, October 2017

Black tupelo foliage, Freeborn County, MN, September 2017

Location: Freeborn County, MN

Black tupelo thriving and showing off Autumn color

Location: Freeborn County, MN

Black tupelo foliage