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West Virginia Trees

Chapter 123: SOURWOOD
By A. B. Brooks
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Nature/Gardening/Animals

About This Book

A practical field guide to the native and introduced trees of West Virginia, providing keys based mainly on leaves and fruits, concise family and species descriptions, and detailed line drawings for about 101 native species. It organizes trees by botanical families, gives brief flower notes, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for identifying specimens; occasional introduced species and shrubs are noted. The bulletin emphasizes simplicity for non-specialists, offers measurements and habit descriptions for each species, and includes administrative prefatory material. Its aim is to aid lay readers and students in tree identification and to encourage local interest in forestry.

SOURWOOD

Oxydendrum arboreum, (L.) D. C.

Form.—Height 30-60 feet, diameter 12-18 inches; trunk medium long and slender; crown narrow and round-topped.

Leaves.—Alternate, simple, oblong-lanceolate, pointed, serrate, smooth and shining, 5-7 inches long.

Flowers.—July; perfect; small, white, in long, one-sided racemes clustered in an open, terminal panicle.

Fruit.—Matures in early autumn; a 5-valved capsule, often persistent into the winter.

Bark.—Thick, roughened by fissures and broken, grayish ridges.

Wood.—Hard, heavy, close-grained reddish-brown with lighter sapwood.

Range.—Pennsylvania and Indiana southward mostly along the mountains to Florida and Louisiana.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Found in all sections west of the Alleghanies, rare in the eastern part of the State.

Habitat.—Light, well-drained soils of hillsides and bottoms.

Notes.—Sour-wood, or Sour Gum, although quite common in most parts of West Virginia, is not often used except for unimportant domestic purposes. The tree is very ornamental when in bloom but is infrequently planted.