Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum, is a monotypic
genus in the heath family. It is also
the largest member of the family at least in our area. Both the genus and common name as well as
another vernacular name, sorrel tree, indicates that it is sour, as can be
tested by tasting a leaf, which is comparable to super sour candy. On a sweet note sourwood is an important
honey plant that produces a highly prized monofloral honey. The white flowers are compared to lily-of-the-valley
thus giving yet another colloquial name, lily-of- the-valley tree, which is
often used in nursery catalogs that tend to omit binomial nomenclature. Interestingly the inflorescence curves downward
while the flowers are in bloom, but as some point thereafter the concave turns
upward along with the direction the developing capsule points. The specific epithet refers to the size being
a tree rather than a shrub like most species in the family. The wood reportedly crackles in the a fire so much that it shares the common name thunderwood with poision sumac, Toxicodendron vernix. The simple alternate leaves with finely serrated edges have one of the best fall color being the nearly scarlet and one
of the earliest to change similar to blackgum, Nyssa sylvatica, with which it can be confused due to some
similarity in the mature rectangularly blocked bark pattern, although the more
variable leaves of blackgum are either entire or sparsely toothed as well as
having diaphragmed pith. The