Nyssa sylvatica (Black gum)

Nyssa sylvatica Marshall

Black gum, black tupelo, swamp tupelo

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Cornales	Includes dogwoods, hydrangeas, stickleafs, tupelos, even sillyberries
Family	Nyssaceae	Dogwood family, named for Nyssa, tupelo
Genus	Nyssa	A Greek water nymph; tupelo means roughly “swamp-tree”
Species	sylvatica	A “woodland habitat”

About plant names...

Black gum is native to eastern North America.

Identification: Black gum trees are 30-80' (9.1-24 m) tall and 20-30' (6.1-9.1 m) wide. The trunks are 20-39" (50-100 cm) in diameter. Dark gray bark becomes deeply cracked and scaly in appearance on older trees. Leaves are approximately oval-shaped, wider toward the end of the leaf, 1¾-4½" (5-12 cm) long. They are somewhat to very shiny, dark green, and typically smooth-edged. In the fall, leaves become dark purple or scarlet. Inconspicuous flowers are greenish-white, though they do have the rather unusual distinction of being polygamo-dioecious, in case you are keeping track. (This means that trees have mostly either male or female flowers, but a few of the opposite sex as well, yet another variation in the confusing sexuality of plants.) Fruits are black or blue in color, about ⅜" (1 cm) long.

Online References:

Nyssa sylvatica on Wikipedia

Nyssa sylvatica on hort.net

Nyssa sylvatica on the USDA Forest Service's Fire Effects Information Database

Nyssa sylvatica at the USDA Forest Service's Silvics of North America site

Nyssa sylvatica at the Ohio State University PLANTFacts database