The earliest Indians, then the Cherokees, and later on the white settlers here in the southern mountains lived close to the natural world. In some ways, of course, it was a cold, dirty, difficult and often cruel existence. But in many ways it must have also been very rewarding. You and I have to flip a switch in our minds in order to shift from our modern technological ambience and make some sort of connection with the natural world. Every single day, for better or worse, those folks woke up as a part of the glorious world that surrounded them.

They lived close to the land because the land provided the basics for survival and the necessary commodities for creature comforts. Medicines, foods, dyes, building materials - you name it - weren’t purchased at Ingles or Lowe’s or Wal-Mart or the local pharmacy. They had to be extracted from the natural world. Accordingly, people paid closer attention to the everyday world in which they existed. It’s my supposition they felt closer and more at home in that world than many do today. One can overly romanticize this sort of thing, of course, but I happen to think it’s true.

As a case in point, let’s take a look at the sourwood tree. Sourwood, one of my favorite trees, is now in full bloom. Driving along the highways or byways, you can easily identify this graceful member of our flora by its long, greenish, elliptical leaves and white, drooping tassels that remind some of lily-of-the-valley. The soft green sourwood leaves with their distinctively patterned veins are especially attractive. The wood is hard, medium heavy (46-pounds to the cubic foot, dry weight), with red-tinged brown heartwood and very thick layers of paler sapwood. Mature sourwood trees growing in optimum conditions here Western North Carolina are usually about 50 to 60 feet tall. A tree on U.S. Forest Service property near Robbinsville stands 118 feet high with a circumference of 77 inches. As of 1992, it was the world champion sourwood in regard to size.

Sourwood (Oxydendron arboreum) belongs to the Heath Family (Ericaceae), which is one of the most interesting and important plant groups in our area. It is comprised of about 2,500 species widely distributed throughout the world. Here in the Blue Ridge there are approximately 50 species. These vary greatly in regard to both size and appearance: rhododendron, laurel, trailing arbutus, wintergreen, pipsissewa, doghobble, fetterbush, shinleaf, blueberry, maleberry, minniebush, sand myrtle, pinesap, Indian pipe, etc.

Rosebay rhododendron and maybe even laurel sometimes attain tree proportions, but sourwood is the only member of the family in our area that is always classified as a tree. How curious to realize that it is closely related to Indian pipe, which dwells in the leaf-litter and muck way down on the forest floor. Notice the characteristic urn-shaped flowers comprised of from 4 to 5 petals that all the species in the family display.

The common name sourwood is derived from the acrid taste of its leaves. To me, they taste like sourgrass. It is also known as arrowwood, elk tree, sour gum, lily-of-the-valley tree and sorrel gum.
Mary Chiltoskey and Paul Hamel report in Cherokee Plants: Their Uses - A 400 Year History (1975) that sourwood was used by the Cherokees medicinally as a tonic, tea or “bark ooze” for indigestion, asthma, lung diseases, diarrhea, itch, mouth ulcers and “nerves.” The early white settlers learned these uses from the Cherokees and also employed extracts for kidney and bladder ailments. In general, the Cherokees and settlers used the leaves in summer and the bark (green or dry) in winter.
Much of the plant’s reputation as a medicinal - whether deserved or not - can be attributed to the presence of organic acids.

The Cherokees also used sourwood to obtain pipestems, arrowshafts, butter paddles and firewood. The white settlers used the wood for tool handles. More importantly, they immediately noticed that the trunk of a mature sourwood more often than not has a natural bend about mid-way to two-thirds of the way above the ground. Bingo! ... they needed runners for their sleds .... sourwood is hard ... it was practically a no-brainer ... they felled and sectioned the sourwood trees to incorporate this natural curve into the required shape for the runners on their oxen- or mule-drawn sleds.

Now, I have known about this use of sectioned sourwood for sled runners for years. But I have also pondered the cause of this natural bend for a like number of years. Every time I went out in the field with a botanist or naturalist, I would ask that person about the sourwood’s natural bend. Glazed expressions. One notable botanist suggested that I use a compass to see “if they always bend toward the rising sun.” They don’t.

This past spring I was conducting an Elderhostel natural history workshop with Murray Evans in Highlands for The Mountain, a Unitarian-Universalist camp and conference center. Murray is presently retired from his position as a professor in the biology department at the University of Tennessee. In addition to being an authority of the ferns of North America, he is also a taxonomist; that is, he is trained to pay attention to the relationships of plants and categorize them accorgingly.

“Murray,” I said, “do you see that bend up there in that sourwood tree? Most mature sourwoods do that. I’ve been wondering why for a long time.”

“Oh,” he said, “you’ve got to remember that sourwood is a member of the Heath Family, which is mostly made up of shrubs. Sourwood decided to be a tree, but it has retained some of characteristic growth paterns of a shrub. See how the limbs tend to arch downward like a shrub. And that natural bend in the trunk is also shrub-like. That’s what I think.”

“Thanks,” I said. Just keep on asking and sooner or later you shall receive.

One just about can’t think about sourwood trees in bloom without thinking of the fresh sourwood honey that’s on the way. Fortunately the blooming period of sourwood comes pretty much after that of its cousins the mountain laurel and rhododendrons, whose honeys are toxic. Bees are said to prefer sourwood to any other tree. Stand under a sourwood in full bloom and you will hear the “song of summer” coming from the congregation of bees feeding high above.

The early white settlers made their bee gums from black gum (Nyssa sylvatica). This use was also based on close observation of the natural world. Black gum is susceptible to a heartwood decay that sets in early at the top of the tree and works downward; therefore, hollow trees are common. Bingo! ... another no-brained ... fell and section a black gum into short sections ... stand the sections on end with boards over the tops and bottoms ... make an entrance hole ... bee gums.

There is a site on the Internet for a company based in Clarkesville, Georgia, titled “MtnHoney: America’s Best Honey” (www.mtnhoney.com/contact.html) that contains an interesting section devoted to the “History and Health Benefits of Honey:”

“Honey is mankind’s oldest sweetener. Honey is manufactured in nature’s most efficient factory - the beehive. Bees make honey from the nectar of flowers and they will travel as far as 40,000 miles and visit over 2 million flowers to produce one pound of honey. Honey has been found in the tombs of ancient Egyptian Pharos - and depictions of men harvesting honey are painted on the wall of caves by pre-historic man. The bible mentions Honey or Honeycomb over 40 times. In the book of St. Luke 24:42, after Christ has been risen from the dead, the first food he eats is ‘broiled fish and honeycomb.’
“Honeybees have been in Europe and Asia for hundreds of thousands of years. It was not until the late 1600s that the bee was brought to this country by Europeans. Native Americans called the honey bee ‘White man’s flies.’ Approximately one half of the human diet is derived directly or indirectly from crops pollinated by bees.

“Northeast Georgia is a premium location for the sourwood. The sourwood tree blooms in late June through the month of July. During this period, most all other flowers have bloomed. By the end of June all spring honey is removed from our beehives. New honey supers are added to ensure the sourwood honey produced is in its purist form ... Sourwood honey is extra-light to light amber color and extremely aromatic, with a distinctive rich honey flavor. In local markets it commands a premium price. When it comes to quality and taste, no other honey can match sourwood honey.”

In autumn, the brilliant red foliage of the sourwood tree contrasts with the showy, dangling fruit clusters. This aspect combined with its graceful shape and showy flowers make it a striking ornamental. In Growing and Propagating Showy Native Woody Plants, (1992) WNC horticulture specialist Dick Bir observed that “In the landscape, few small trees can compete with the seasonal appeal of sourwood ... I suggest planting them where they can be seen from a distance rather than expecting sourwood to be the focus of your patio planting ... Sites at sunny woodland edges or in full sun are its favorites.” So, get yourself a sourwood tree from a local nursery. Plant it as described above. You will certainly enjoy its unique beauty. Maybe you will also remember its unique associations with the Cherokees and early white settlers. And when your sourwood matures and develops that natural bend, you’ll know exactly why.

(George Ellison is a writer who lives in Bryson City. He wrote the biographical introductions for the reissues of two Appalachian classics: Horace Kephart’s Our Southern Highlanders and James Mooney’s History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. Readers can contact him at P.O. Box 1262, Bryson City, N.C., 287713, or at ellisongeorge@cs.com

 

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