General Landscape Uses:
Shade tree for large, wet areas or in standing water.
Availability:
Rarely grown by native plant nurseries in central and northern Florida.
Description: Deciduous tree with a buttressed base 50-100 feet tall with large leaves 4-12 inches long, turning brilliant red in the fall. Distinguished from the Ogeechee tupelo (N. ogeche) by having longer leaf stems and the fruit stalk being longer than the length of the fruit.
Dimensions: Typically 50-100 feet in height, taller than broad. Up to 110 feet in height in north Florida.
Growth Rate: Fast growing in well-drained sites, slow growing in swampy sites.
Range:
Southern United States south to the panhandle and north Florida from Escambia to Columbia and Levy counties. For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the
Exploring Florida website.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Forested wetlands.
Soils: Wet to moist, moderately well-drained to periodically inundated sandy, limestone, or organic soils, with or without humusy top layer.
Nutritional Requirements: Moderate; can grow in nutrient poor soils, but needs some organic content to thrive.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.
Light Requirements: Full sun to light shade.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous.
Flowering Season: Spring.
Fruit: Dark blue to purple drupe 1 inch long.
Wildlife and Ecology: Attracts pollinators. Provides food and cover for wildlife.
References: Huegel (
2010), Nelson (
2003), Nelson
Comments: We have been adding data for this species for central and northern Florida and welcome any feedback or review. If you would like to contribute information or images, please contact George Gann via the IRC staff page.
