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// SPECIES PROFILE · TREE · NATIVE · LONG-LIVED

Black Tupelo

Nyssa sylvatica

The oldest non-clonal flowering tree in eastern North America — documented individuals exceed 650 years — black tupelo is also one of NE Oklahoma's most spectacular native shade trees, with the earliest and brightest fall color of any tree in the region (clear scarlet to crimson by mid-September, weeks before maples or sweetgum). A functionally dioecious pollinator powerhouse and host of the famed Florida-Panhandle "tupelo honey" trade, its small dark-blue drupes feed dozens of migrant songbirds. Native to the wetter eastern margin of the state — Ozark coves, Ouachita slopes, and Arkansas River bottomlands — and one of the most underplanted urban shade trees in the Tulsa region.

// QUICK FACTS
Family
Nyssaceae (formerly placed in Cornaceae)
Group
Tree (medium-large deciduous)
Native range
SE Canada → central FL, west to E Texas & E Oklahoma
USDA hardiness
Zones 4–9 (Tulsa = 7a/7b)
Mature size
40–75 ft · spread 25–40 ft
Lifespan
Routinely 250–500 yrs; oldest verified 679 yrs (NC)
Sex
Functionally dioecious (some perfect flowers exist)
Sun
Full sun to part shade
Soil
Acidic, moist to wet; tolerates seasonal flooding
Water
Moist; not drought-tolerant on poor soils
Bloom
Inconspicuous greenish-yellow, late April–May
Fruit ripens
Sept–Oct, dark blue-black drupe
Fall color
Brilliant scarlet to crimson, mid-Sept onward
Wildlife value
50+ bird spp on fruit; major late-spring nectar source
Lepidoptera hosts
Promethea moth, hickory hairstreak, several leafrollers
Ecological role
Bottomland canopy · pollinator nectar · long-lived legacy tree
Black Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) — brilliant scarlet fall foliage
Nyssa sylvatica — the earliest and most brilliant fall color in NE Oklahoma. Photo via Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons.

Identification

[ field key — bark · leaves · flowers · fruit · lookalikes ]

Habit & Bark

Medium-large deciduous tree with a typically strongly pyramidal-to-conical crown when young, becoming flat-topped or spreading with age. The strongly horizontal lower branching is a signature character — branches often emerge at right angles to the trunk and droop slightly at the tips. Bark on young trees is grayish-brown and shallowly furrowed; on mature trees it becomes dark gray and broken into the famous "alligator-hide" blocky plates that look almost like an elephant's foot — a unique field mark.

Leaves

Simple, alternate, 3–6 in long, obovate to elliptic with a smooth or rarely few-toothed margin and a short pointed tip. Glossy dark green above, paler beneath; often with a few large irregular teeth near the tip on vigorous shoots. The most diagnostic foliar feature is the fall color: fluorescent scarlet to crimson, beginning in mid-September while every other tree in the canopy is still green — a black tupelo in fall color is unmistakable from a quarter mile away.

Flowers & Fruit

Black tupelo is functionally dioecious — most trees bear either male or female flowers, but a few carry perfect (bisexual) flowers and individual trees can change sex expression year-to-year. Flowers are tiny, greenish-yellow, in inconspicuous clusters in late April–May — visually forgettable but biochemically extraordinary, producing one of the most prized nectar flows in the eastern US. Fruit is a small (1–1.5 cm) dark blue-black drupe on a long red stalk, ripening Sept–Oct in clusters of 1–3, sour to the human palate but devoured by birds.

Lookalikes

Often confused with Nyssa aquatica (water tupelo) of true swamps — water tupelo has larger, single-fruited drupes and a swollen buttressed base that black tupelo lacks. Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) shares the blocky bark and similar leaf shape but has alternating leaves with smooth untoothed margins, edible orange fruit, and a less reliably brilliant fall color. Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) shares brilliant red fall color but has pendulous panicles of white flowers in summer and is uncommon in OK.

Habitat & Range in NE Oklahoma

Black tupelo reaches its western range limit in eastern Oklahoma. It is common in the western Ozarks (Adair, Cherokee, Delaware, Sequoyah counties), the Ouachita Mountains (LeFlore, Pushmataha, McCurtain), and the bottomlands of the Arkansas, Poteau, Mountain Fork, and Little river systems. It thins westward through Wagoner, Mayes, and Tulsa counties and is essentially absent west of I-35. The Tulsa region sits at the very edge of its native distribution, which makes site selection critical for landscape specimens.

Native habitat in NE Oklahoma centers on moist, acidic, bottomland and lower-slope forests: river terraces, the bottoms of north-facing coves in the Ozark plateaus, seasonally flooded floodplains, and the moist foot-slopes of Ouachita ridges. It tolerates standing water for weeks at a time during spring floods (though not permanently submerged conditions like its cousin water tupelo) and is consistently associated with Quercus pagoda (cherrybark oak), Quercus michauxii (swamp chestnut oak), Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum), Carya aquatica (water hickory), and Acer rubrum (red maple) on Ouachita and Arkansas River bottoms.

On urban and yard plantings in the Tulsa metro, expect black tupelo to need supplemental irrigation through the worst summer droughts and to struggle on the alkaline limestone-derived clays of north Tulsa County. It is most successful on acidic sandy or loamy soils with consistent moisture — the south and east sides of the metro and the river-terrace neighborhoods along the Arkansas. The most striking specimen tupelos in NE Oklahoma are in old neighborhoods of Muskogee, Tahlequah, Sallisaw, Poteau, and Idabel where soils and rainfall favor it.

Ecology & Wildlife Value

[ tupelo honey · songbird fruit · cavities · legacy ]

Pollinators & tupelo honey

Despite their inconspicuous appearance, Nyssa sylvatica flowers produce one of the highest-quality nectar flows in eastern North America. The Apalachicola River basin in the Florida Panhandle hosts a regional commercial industry built on tupelo honey — a pale, mild, slow-to-crystallize honey from N. sylvatica and N. ogeche. In NE Oklahoma the spring bloom feeds honey bees, bumblebees (Bombus pensylvanicus, B. impatiens), sweat bees, mining bees, and a remarkable diversity of solitary bees and small flies. The flow lasts only 10–14 days but is dense enough to feed entire neighborhoods of pollinators in late April.

Birds & mammals

Black tupelo's September fruit crop is critical for fall migration on the eastern flyway. Documented avian consumers include wood thrush, Swainson's thrush, hermit thrush, gray catbird, brown thrasher, Northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, Eastern bluebird, summer tanager, scarlet tanager, and rose-breasted grosbeak. The high lipid content of the drupes makes them disproportionately important fuel for long-distance migrants. Mammals including raccoon, opossum, gray fox, and black bear (returning to E OK) feed on fallen fruit.

Cavity & structural value

Mature black tupelo develops heart rot relatively early — a feature, not a bug, from a wildlife perspective. Hollow trunks of old tupelos are documented nest, roost, and den sites for: pileated woodpecker, wood duck, barred owl, Eastern screech owl, southern flying squirrel, raccoon, and the Indiana bat in parts of its range. Wood ducks in Ouachita bottomland forests of SE Oklahoma rely heavily on tupelo cavities for nesting.

Lepidoptera hosts

Larval host of the promethea silkmoth (Callosamia promethea), the hickory hairstreak (Satyrium caryaevorum), and several leafroller and underwing moths. Foliar damage is rarely severe; most caterpillar populations are quickly cleaned up by warblers and vireos passing through during fall migration.

A legacy planting: Black tupelo is one of the few eastern trees you can plant with reasonable confidence that it will outlive your great-great-grandchildren. Documented North Carolina and New Hampshire individuals exceed 650 years — older than any oak, hickory, or maple in eastern North America. A 25-foot landscape specimen you plant today may still be standing in the year 2400. Plan accordingly: site it for its mature footprint and away from any structure that might constrain it over centuries.
Difficult to transplant: Black tupelo grows a deep taproot in the first few years and is notoriously hard to dig out of the wild. Buy container-grown stock (B&B trees often die from root disturbance) and plant young — a 2–3 ft sapling will outgrow and outperform a 6 ft B&B tree within five years. Do not attempt to dig wild seedlings from a friend's woods; they will almost always die.

Horticulture & Care

[ siting · planting · cultivars for fall color · care ]

When to plant intentionally

Black tupelo is the right choice for: moist-soil shade trees in mid-large yards, street trees on east/south Tulsa streets with adequate irrigation, pollinator-focused landscapes wanting an under-appreciated spring nectar source, and fall-color specimens where you want the first and brightest red of the season. It is wrong for: alkaline limestone clay sites without irrigation, very dry exposed ridges, tight urban planters, or anywhere root disturbance is likely.

Planting & establishment

Cultivars for Tulsa

Cultivar Habit Distinguishing feature Notes for Tulsa
'Wildfire' Pyramidal, 30–50 ft New growth emerges bright red all season; brilliant fall color Dr. Michael Dirr selection; the most ornamental cultivar; needs adequate moisture.
'Forum' (Green Gable™) Strongly pyramidal, 50 ft Dense uniform habit, glossy dark green summer foliage Best for street-tree applications; uniform crown.
'Sheri's Cloud' Upright, 30 ft Variegated cream-and-green foliage; pink-mottled fall color Specimen tree; needs partial shade in Tulsa to prevent leaf scorch.
'Red Rage' Pyramidal, 30–50 ft Disease-resistant (leaf spot); intense scarlet fall color Good choice for humid summers and bottomland sites.
'Tupelo Tower' Strictly columnar, 35 ft × 12 ft Narrow upright form with full fall color Tight-space alternative; good for urban courtyards.
'Zydeco Twist' Twisted-branch architectural specimen Contorted twigs reminiscent of corkscrew willow Conversation piece; not for production landscapes.

Pruning & care

Black tupelo has strongly horizontal natural branching and develops an excellent crown structure on its own. Prune only to remove dead wood or co-dominant leaders in the first 5–10 years; thereafter leave it alone. Like persimmon and some other Ericaceae-adjacent species, it does not tolerate aggressive pruning of mature wood — do not top, do not heavily limb up, and do not cut large branches without a clear reason.

Pests & diseases

Cultural & Material Uses

Black tupelo has a long economic history mostly invisible to modern eyes — the uses tend to involve obscure properties of its wood and its honey, both still relevant today.

Sources & Further Reading

  • USDA NRCS PLANTS Database — Nyssa sylvatica: plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/NYSY
  • USDA Forest Service Silvics of North America, Vol. 2 (Hardwoods) — McGee, C.E., chapter on Nyssa sylvatica: srs.fs.usda.gov — nyssa/sylvatica
  • USDA Forest Service Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) — Nyssa sylvatica: fs.usda.gov/database/feis — nyssyl
  • Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — Nyssa sylvatica: wildflower.org — NYSY
  • Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder — Nyssa sylvatica with cultivar profiles.
  • Pederson, N. (2010), "External Characteristics of Old Trees in the Eastern Deciduous Forest," Natural Areas Journal 30(4):396–407 — documents black tupelo as the longest-lived non-clonal flowering tree species in eastern North America.
  • Dirr, M.A. (2009), Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, 6th ed. — detailed cultivar descriptions including 'Wildfire' which Dirr selected.
  • OSU Extension — Trees for Oklahoma Landscapes, fact sheet HLA-6435.
  • Sanford, M.T., University of Florida — Tupelo Honey Production, UF/IFAS Extension publication on Apalachicola tupelo honey industry.
  • Wikipedia — Nyssa sylvatica: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyssa_sylvatica (CC BY-SA 4.0; portions of the description summarize Wikipedia content).
  • Native Plant Society of Oklahoma — ecoregion plant lists for the Ozark Plateau and Ouachita Mountains.

Companion Planting

[ guild · polyculture · cross-layer pairings ]

Along a stream or seasonal floodplain, black tupelo pairs naturally with: american elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), crossvine (Bignonia capreolata), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), inland sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), american hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), and black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa).

black tupelo works best as a canopy or sub-canopy partner above the herbaceous and shrub layers.