Black gum is one of my favorite trees because it is great for pollinators and wildlife and has some great early fall color. This week's video is all about them.

Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think!

Anthony

Another great video Anthony!

Upland Tupelo but Black Gum to me. All of the Tupelos are nectar producers though the ogeechee tupelo is the best of the best for that and the only one that can legally be labeled as Tupelo honey, at least in Florida that is.

Down here we probably got much more acreage of swamp tupelo than any other.

Black gum is scattered through the mountains and piedmont never in pure stands. Swamp tupelo starts in the fall line swamps and goes to the coast and is often found in pure stands in standing water or mixed with cypress.

Water tupelo is found statewide along stream banks and up through the second bottoms.

Ogeechee aka white tupelo is restricted to a very narrow band from the Florids panhandle, Apalachicola/Chipley river, up across the south Georgia River systems to Savannah. Basically the ancient route of the Suwanee straight that separated peninsular Florida from the mainland when inland seas covered parts of the southeast.

There is one in my parents back yard that is estimated to be nearly 200 years old. Their house is built on a lot that the one room school house my Mother attended . She said it was the same size then it is now. That was 75 years ago. Local extension office wanted to age the tree but my dad said no it might harm it .

Warrior - great synopsis of the tupelo species! Here in KY it is mainly black gum, although there are water tupelo in the far western part of the state. I am sure we have a sew swamp tupelo also as it has been recorded in west TN, MO, and IL all along the KY border.

jbyrd - that is on heck of a black gum! Beautiful tree.

What a nice video, Anthony. A beauty of a tree. I dont have those here. Looks like a cross of Pin Oak ( red leaves and shape overall), Magnolia ( waxy leaves), and Serviceberry (berries) .

Still am wondering why it is called gum.

Those swamp trees remind me of cypress.

Learn something new all the time. Thank you , Anthony.

Black Gum was the preferred wood for wagon wheel hubs, hard and dense, held up well.

Squirrels used to cut black gum early here. A lot were hollow and we’re den trees plus has mistletoe in the tops coming out of the knotty limbs.

Great job!

We have them here, but I've only ever seen them on the woodland fringe of our salt meadows. I always figured they were more of a swamp species that needed wetter soil....

Two below a tupelo right there. (Tupelo, another name for the black gum.)
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Thanks everyone who gave it a watch!

Good video.