A black tupelo trunk hollowed out to act as a bee hive. (Przykuta, 2007)

 

Although the name itself says “gum” in it, in no way is the tree “gummy” at all. The tree also doesn’t produce any sap or resin that remotely resembles gum.

The term “black” was designated to this tree only to distinguish it from other tupelo trees and serves no real purpose as a color.

The heartwood decays first, the trunk ends up being hollow, which warranted great use because of its strong bark. Uses included storage bins and rabbit traps. Bees would occasionally have to live in artificial beehives, and a hollowed black gum trees is used for this purpose most frequently. All the uses listed are known as “gums” – bee gums, vegetable gums, or rabbit gums. The word “gum” is used as another word for “hive” or a contained space. This word is mainly used like this because these cavities or hives came from the black gum tree.