Nyssa ogeche
Origin: US Southeast (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina), via Louisiana
Improvement status: Wild
Seeds per packet: 10
BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED
Life cycle: Perennial
Also called "sour gum," "river lime," "wild lime," and "Ogeechee tupelo," the pretty blossoms of white tupelo provide the nectar for bees to make the legendarily delicious "Tupelo Honey." Its sour red fruit, called Ogeechee Limes, are edible and juicy, making for a good lime substitute. They can be made into a tasty Ogeechee Limeade, or cooked with sugar into a tasty jam, jelly, or marmalade. The species is native and endemic to the far southeastern US, from the southern border of South Carolina through coastal and low-country Georgia into northern Atlantic coastal Florida and the panhandle. Thrive especially in acidic swamps, but trees surprisingly adaptable in cultivation (Zones 7-9). Trees are deciduous and reach about 50 feet tall. It is cultivated over thousands of acres, mainly along the Apalachicola River in Florida, for the production of the famous honey.
Our Louisiana-grown seed comes to us from Sheffield Seed in Locke, NY.
GROWING TIPS: Soak seed for 24 hours then cold stratify for 90 days. Sow 3/4" deep in nice rich soil.
NOTE: Photographs of the fruit and the flowers are from iNaturalist user mfeaver and are shared here under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. The image of the trees along the banks of the Suwanna River in Florida is by FloridaSwampFlower and is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Other images are in the public domain.
