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Tupelo

Nyssa

Also called Tupelos

Tupelo
Photo: Charles T. Bryson, USDA Agricultural Research Service, CC BY 3.0 us

Tupelo (Nyssa) is a genus of deciduous trees, mostly native to eastern North America and eastern Asia, that are valued as shade and ornamental trees with striking autumn color. Many species tolerate wet soils and flooding, which is the key to growing them.

Family
Nyssaceae (Nyss family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water regularly while young; mature trees tolerate wet soil and flooding, though new plantings should not dry out.
Soil
Moist, acidic, well-drained to wet loam; tolerates poorly drained soil.
Temperature
Hardy in cold winters for temperate species; protect young trees from frost and heat stress.
How easy
Moderate

About

Tupelo , genus Nyssa , is a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves. It is sometimes included in the subfamily Nyssoideae of the dogwood family, Cornaceae, but is placed by other authorities in the family Nyssaceae, as in the APG IV system.

Most Nyssa species are highly tolerant of wet soils and flooding, and some need such environments as habitat. Some of the species are native to eastern North America, from southeastern Canada through the Eastern United States to Mexico and Central America. Other species are found in eastern and southeastern Asia, from the eastern Himalayas in China south through Indochina to Java.

Uses

Tupelo wood is used extensively by artistic woodcarvers, especially for carving ducks and other wildfowl. It power carves excellently and holds good detail in the end grain. In commerce, it is used for shipping containers and interior parts of furniture, and is used extensively in the veneer and panel industry for crossbanding, plywood cores, and backs. The wood can be readily pulped and is used for high-grade book and magazine papers. In the past, the hollow trunks were used as "bee gums" to hold beehives.

Other Nyssa plants

Water tupelo · Chinese tupelo · Blackgum

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Tupelo (tree) by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

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