The Nyssa Sylvatica
is commonly known as Black Tupelo
, Swamp Blackgum
, Swamp Tupelo
, as well as Yellow Gum< Go Back
Black tupelo grows from southwestern Maine west to New York, extreme
southern Ontario, central Michigan, Illinois, central Missouri, and
south to central Florida. It is local in central and southern Mexico.
Swamp tupelo is limited to Coastal Plain swamps and estuaries from
Maryland and southeastern Virginia south to southern Florida. It grows
on the east side of the Mississippi River to western and southern
The currently accepted scientific name for black tupelo is Nyssa
sylvatica Marsh [39
]. Tupelo is divided into two commonly recognized
varieties which are differentiated by habitat: black tupelo (Nyssa
sylvatica var. sylvatica) occurs on light-textured soils of uplands and
stream bottoms and swamp tupelo (N. sylvatica var. biflora) occurs on
heavy organic or clay soils of wet bottomlands [44
]. This report
includes information on both varieties.
Kologiski has included black tupelo as an indicator or dominant in the
following community type classification :
Location Classification Authority
se NC general veg. cts Kologiski 1977
< Go Back
Much of the information presented here is attributed to:
Coladonato, Milo 1992. Nyssa sylvatica In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,
Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available at USDA Forest Service.