{"title":"Tupelos (Nyssa)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe genus takes the name of a water nymph, which suits trees that keep their feet in swamps and river bottoms. \u003cem\u003eNyssa sylvatica\u003c\/em\u003e, the black gum, turns before anything else in the Southern woods, a hard scarlet in September while the oaks are still green, and holds glossy foliage the rest of the year. Bees make a dark honey from the flowers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNyssa ogeche\u003c\/em\u003e is the Ogeechee lime, a small tree of the coastal plain of Georgia and north Florida whose sour red fruit was once made into a drink and a preserve, and whose flowers give the Apalachicola the tupelo honey the region is known for. Both species take flooding and heavy soil without complaint. Give the black gum room and sun, and expect the fall color to be the reason anyone remembers the tree.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"nyssa-sylvatica","title":"Nyssa sylvatica","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/woodlanders.net\/blogs\/the-node\/the-black-gum-chronicles-a-tree-of-history-healing-and-beauty\"\u003eBlack gum is one of the longest-lived hardwoods in eastern North America\u003c\/a\u003e; individual trees have been aged past six hundred and fifty years, standing quietly in swamp margins and rocky uplands while everything human around them came and went. The names alone are a small history lesson. Nyssa was a water nymph of Greek myth, sylvatica means of the woods, so the botanical name reads as water nymph of the forest; tupelo comes from the Creek ito and opilwa, tree and swamp; and the old northern name pepperidge is the one a Connecticut baker borrowed for her farm and her bread company. Curiously, no part of the tree is gummy at all. What black gum does own is the autumn. They are among the first trees to turn and among the fiercest, the glossy summer leaves igniting into scarlet, orange, and deep wine-purple weeks before the rest of the woods has given the season a thought, an early flare that signals birds to the ripening blue fruit. The wood is so cross-grained it is nearly impossible to split, which sent it into tool handles, chopping bowls, and, where trunks went hollow with age, into bee gums, the log hives that made gum a synonym for beehive across Appalachia. Black gum is notoriously hard to move at any size, which is exactly why you so rarely see a big one for sale, and exactly why you should start one small, now, and let them outlive you.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"1 Gallon","offer_id":42841000738931,"sku":"NYSS-SYLV-01G","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Nyssa_sylvatica_fall_HJ3T9sVpygwv.jpg?v=1739207035"},{"product_id":"nyssa-ogeche","title":"Nyssa ogeche","description":"\u003cp\u003eNyssa ogeche, the Ogeechee tupelo, is a medium-sized deciduous tree of the southeastern Coastal Plain, at home from southern South Carolina through the Ogeechee valley of Georgia into northern Florida and Alabama. The genus name honors Nyssa, a water nymph of Greek myth, and the tree lives up to the name, thriving along creeks, river swamps, and seasonally flooded bottoms where the soil stays acidic and wet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBest known of all is the fruit: elongated, bright red drupes borne on female trees that ripen in late summer, so sharply sour that generations of Southern cooks have turned them into Ogeechee lime jelly, marmalade, and a tart limeade. The spring flowers are small and green, easy to overlook, yet they are the source of one of the South's most prized honeys. Bees working white tupelo, as Nyssa ogeche is also called, produce the celebrated tupelo honey, and the tree carries the fitting nicknames bee tupelo and sour tupelo.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn leaf, the Ogeechee tupelo is bold and clean, with large, glossy green leaves that build a full, lush canopy through summer before softening to yellow and orange in fall. Female trees turn genuinely ornamental in fruit, the red drupes hanging clearly against the foliage at a season when many natives have gone quiet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThough tied to swamps in the wild, the Ogeechee tupelo is more adaptable than most wetland trees and settles happily into well-drained garden soil as long as moisture is reliable, tolerating both brief flooding and short dry spells once established. With edible fruit, deep regional roots, and real value to pollinators and wildlife, the tree suits larger gardens, pond and stream edges, and any planting that celebrates Southeastern natives and foodways.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057929719923,"sku":"NYSS-OGEC-01G","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-163.jpg?v=1720139822"}],"url":"https:\/\/woodlanders.net\/collections\/nyssa.oembed","provider":"Woodlanders","version":"1.0","type":"link"}