It has a flowering habit that is dioecious, meaning a male and female tree are required to produce fruit. However, some plants have mostly male flowers while others have mostly female flowers, with most plants having a few perfect flowers. It tolerates many soil types and moisture conditions, but is slow-growing, reaching about 12 to 15 feet in about ten years, growing faster with a good watering and fertilizer schedule The tree prefers average, medium to wet soils in full sun. It prefers moist, acidic soils, but is adaptive and tolerates poorly-drained soils and standing water, some drought, and some dry soils, at least in the wild. Trunk diameter is typically 1 to 2 feet but can reach 4 to 5 feet in taller specimens. The black gum reaches a mature size of 40 to 70 feet tall but typically reaches 20 to 30 feet in cultivation.

The specific epithet, sylvatica, means 'of the woods.' The genus name, Nyssa, is derived from the word Nyssa or Nysa and refers to a water nymph from Greek mythology. There was evidence of leaf spots and cankers, but the cause has not been determined. In the mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia, it has been recently found that a number of the black gum trees have been dying. Its native range includes southern Ontario to the Central and Eastern United States, and Mexico. It can also be found in the hills and mountains on dry slopes with oaks and hickories. The black gum is grown as an ornamental for its beautiful, scarlet red, fall color and for its shiny, dark green leaves in the summer. Phonetic Spelling NIS-a sil-VAT-i-ka Descriptionīlack gum or black tupelo is a medium-sized, native deciduous tree in the Nyssaceae family. Growing throughout North Carolina in dry upland forests, occasionally in bottomlands, savannas, swamp margins, and upland depressions that are occasionally flooded.

Purple tree frogs