Tupelo

Tupelo (Nyssa), a genus of trees, natives chiefly of the southern parts of the United States, having simple alternate leaves, mostly entire, greenish inconspicuous flowers at the extremity of long stalks, the fruit a drupe. N. villosa attains a height of 60 to 70 feet. It is often called Black Gum Tree. N. tomentosa, the Large Tupelo, is a lofty and beautiful tree, remarkable for the extraordinary enlargement of the base of the trunk, which is sometimes 8 or 9 feet in diameter, whilst at no great height the diameter diminishes to 15 or 20 inches. The fruit resembles a small olive, and is preserved in the same way by the French settlers in America. N. candicans or capitata, the Ogeechee Lime or Sour Gum Tree, is a small tree, of which the fruit is very acid, and is used like that of the lime. The wood of all the species is peculiarly curled in the grain, rendering the fibre very tenacious and difficult to split, and is in request for making naves of wheels, hatters' blocks, &c., but is not otherwise valuable.