What Tree is this?

[DixieReb31]

 

 

 


Sorry for the sideways view.  Any idea what specie of tree this is? I have several growing on my pasture fence line.  The leaves turn blood red in fall.

[Texas Ranger]

I'd say black gum, and probably be wrong, cause the bark is wrong.

[WDH]

Yes, absolutely blackgum.  If you split the pith on a twig, the pith should be diaphrammed, that is, there should be little dividers visible as thin lines.

[jb616]

I have that in Michigan as well....never knew it grew here.  lots of Ironwood as well. 

[DixieReb31]

Is black gum the same as Tupelo? And does it saw well?

[WDH]

Also called Black Tupelo.  There are four species in the South.  Blackgum, Swamp Blackgum, Tupelo or Water Tupelo, and Ogeechee Gum.  Of the four, Blackgum is the most common and withspread. 

Blackgum has spiral grain and is very difficult to dry flat and straight.  Just like sweetgum.  Practically unsplittable.  Therefore, it is mainly used for low grade blocking and as pallet wood.  It was formerly used for mauls, implement handles, skid poles, and flooring.  Unless it has heartwood, the grain is very plain.  It is prized as a bee tree as the bees love the flowers to make honey. 

Water tupelo grows in flooded and very wet areas.  The trunks usually have a butt swell.  Root wood and buttress wood is somewhat spongy due to large intercellular air spaces and has been used for fishing floats and corks as well as a favorite wood for the duck decoy carvers. 

[mike_belben]

It is an extremely long lived, slow growing, shade tolerant tree. It will outlive any other tree i have observed in darkness.. A real survivor.  When the canopy trees blow over there is black gum ready to move in.  


Young tender sprouts are a top deer choice.  It is a prolific seeder and abundantly coppice sprouts.  It hangs on very well after hinge cutting for wildlife habitat.   If this was a country that appreciated living hedges youd see a lot more respect for it because for that its a dandy.  

The sapplings will have black camo patches on the branches.  If theyre in closed canopy the tops will have an unbrella shape.  Can be hard to ID from white oak in winter.  Branch structure gives it away.  They have stubby T rex arms sticking out all over a single trunk a lot of times. 

[Wudman]

It has a tap root to China that is about the same diameter as the root collar.  It is impossible to grub.  You can shear the root off below ground level.

Wud