The leaves are simple, 2 to 3 inches long, entire, often broader near the apex, shiny, dark green in color. In the fall the leaves turn a most brilliant red.
The bark on younger trees is furrowed between flat ridges, and gradually develops into quadrangular blocks that are dense, hard and nearly black. Most of the branches are nearly horizontal.
The greenish flowers on long slender stems appear in early spring when the leaves are about one-third grown. They are usually of two kinds, the male in many-flowered heads and the female in two to several-flowered clusters on different trees. The fruit is a dark blue, fleshy berry, ⅔ of an inch long, containing a single hard-shelled seed, and is borne on long stems, 2 to 3 in a cluster.
The wood is very tough, cross-grained, not durable in contact with the soil, hard to work, and warps easily. It is used for crate and basket veneers, box shooks, rollers, mallets, rough floors, mine trams, pulpwood and fuel.
The tupelo gum, or cotton gum, Nyssa aquatica L., is found in deep river swamps which are flooded during a part of the year. It occurs in 4 or 5 of the southern counties of Illinois in cypress swamps. The enlarged base and the larger fruit serve to distinguish it from the sour gum. This fruit or “plum” is about an inch long, dark purple and has a tough skin enclosing a flattened stone. The wood is light, soft, and not strong and is used for woodenware, handles, fruit and vegetable packages.
PERSIMMON Diospyros virginiana L.
THE persimmon, often called “simmon”, is well known throughout its range. It is a small tree, rarely exceeding 50 feet in height and 1 inch in diameter, occurring throughout the State from the southern part north to Peoria County. It seems to prefer dry, open situations, and is most abundant in the old fields, though it also occurs on rich bottom lands. The bark of old trees is almost black and separated into thick nearly square blocks, much like the black gum.