Trees of Alabama and the Southeast Home Page

Leaves are simple, alternate, deciduous and finely toothed with stiff hairs on the midrib and a sour taste. Twigs are zigzag and green to red, yellow, or brown.  Buds are embedded.  Bark is dark gray to black, blocky, and deeply grooved with red-orange bark inside the grooves. Flowers are white and bell-shaped forming drooping graceful clusters. Fruit is a capsule found in drooping clusters that persist into winter. Sourwood is often twisted in form and found on a variety of sites in the eastern US.  Shade tolerant.  The hard wood is used for pulp and specialty items.  Bees like the flowers (sourwood honey).

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All text and photographs are intended for educational purposes only and are not for commercial use in any form.  All photographs are copyrighted by the named photographer(s), text copyright by Lisa Samuelson. © 2005, all rights reserved. Photographs by Mike Hogan or Todd Langston.