This week I’m going to talk about sourwood trees. It is a beautiful tree regardless of the season. They are also prized for the honey that bees make from their nectar.
Sourwood trees are native from southern Pennsylvania to northwest Florida. However, they are most commonly found in southern Appalachian Mountains. The scientific name for sourwood trees is Oxydendrum arboreum. The name Oxydendrum comes from the Greek word oxys, which means acid, and dendron, which means tree. If you put the two together, you have a description of the sour taste of the leaves. The leaves used to be used by hikers to quench thirst and used to be brewed into a tonic.
Sourwood is in the Ericaceae family. This family is sometimes called the heather family. Sourwood is the only tree in this family. Other members of the family include rhododendron, azalea, and blueberry. Something that all of these plants have in common is their ability to tolerate soil with high acidity. That’s a good thing, because our soils register low on the pH scale, meaning they have high acid. There are no major pests of sourwood trees.
Sourwood forms small white flowers along what’s called a raceme. These flowers start to form in June. They turn into dry, silver-gray fruits that can be seen hanging into the fall. In the fall sourwood leaves start to turn a beautiful deep red color that is very distinctive. The leaves are 3 to eight inches long with small teeth along the edge. In the winter, you can identify the tree by its bark. Sourwood bark is grayish brown with deep furrows that are blocky. Once you’ve seen the bark on a sourwood, it’s easy to recognize it again. Sourwoods grows best as an understory tree (beneath high rising trees like oak and pine). It can grow in full sun, but will need adequate water. Sourwoods have shallow root systems so they are susceptible to drought, especially when they’re in full sun. Oftentimes when I see them growing out in the woods they seem to be coming out of the ground at an angle.
The thing that sourwood trees are known for the most is sourwood honey. Sourwood honey is considered a premium honey that can be difficult to find. That’s because the honey contains nectar from only sourwood trees. Sourwood honey doesn’t have a sour taste. It has a buttery caramel taste with an aftertaste that has a slight zing to it. It is usually extra light to amber colored. Many of the local beekeepers here produce sourwood honey, but you’ll have to buy it quick, because it doesn’t stay on the shelves long. Sourwood honey is internationally regarded as being the best in the world, and north Georgia and western North Carolina is where it comes from. Sourwood trees at higher elevation produce more nectar. Below 1,000 feet above sea level nectar production will be very low.
If you have questions about sourwood trees, contact your County Extension Office or email me at Jacob.Williams@uga.edu.