Flora of North America species comparison

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Nyssa aquatica

cotton gum, water Tupelo
Habit Trees, (6–)10–30 m, base buttressed, proximal limbs spreading to slightly drooping, crown irregular; bark irregularly fissured; twigs puberulent; pith white.
Leaves

petiole 30–60 mm;

blade elliptic to ovate, 8–11(–18) × (2.5–)3.5–5.5(–7.3) cm, herbaceous, base cuneate to rounded, margins entire proximally and usually coarsely dentate distally, apex usually acute, rarely acuminate, often mucronulate, abaxial surface glabrous or puberulent especially along veins, adaxial surface glabrous or sparsely hairy.
Inflorescences

peduncle 1–1.5 cm (elongating to 3 cm in fruit), glabrous; staminate (1–)2–5-flowered, pistillate and bisexual 1–2-flowered.
Flowers

ovary densely hairy.
Drupes

black to blue or reddish purple, glaucous, oblong, 24–27 mm, punctate;

stone 15–20 mm, roughened, often longitudinally ridged.
Staminate

pedicels absent.

Nyssa aquatica
Phenology Flowering spring.
Habitat Swamps, floodplain forests, moist woods.
Elevation 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; DC; FL; GA; IL; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; SC; TN; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 460.
Parent taxa Nyssaceae > Nyssa
Sibling taxa
N. biflora, N. ogeche, N. sylvatica, N. ursina
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1058. (1753)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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