Ericaceae - Heath Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 26
Sourwood
Oxydendrum arboreum
Spring
Summer
Fall
This tree is also called Lily of the Valley or Sorrel Tree. It can grow to 60 feet tall. The bark is so distinctive in the winter. The young green leaves in the spring are beautiful. Just you wait till you know the beauty of this tree in the summer and fall, oh my goodness. This is a native tree of America. The leaves taste sour, thus the name. Tea is made from the leaves to quench thirst, and honey made from the flowers is a gift from heaven above.
For the love of the trees,
Becky
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 26
Sourwood
Oxydendrum arboreum
Spring
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| The Spring Sourwood Tree. Image by Robert Priddy. http://www.robertpriddyphoto.com/ |
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| Sourwood Tree in Summer |
The beautiful white flowers on the sourwood tree are bell shaped and all in a row. As I took this photo today, the bees were busy collecting nectar to make their sourwood honey. Some of the leaves are even starting the color change to red. This tree is the first to change colors. In the photo you can see how the red in peeking through.
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| Sourwood summer leaves |
Fall
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| Sourwood Tree in the Fall |
October and the Sourwood tree; it does not get much prettier. These trees are the ones with the burnt-red colored leaves and the gently-bending grooved-barked trunks.
Winter |
| The Sourwood Tree |
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| Evening light on the Sourwood Tree |
The Distinctive deeply grooved Bark makes the sourwood tree stand out in the winter. The way the sourwood tree leans is another way to identify the sourwood tree in the winter. A teacher once told me that this is the artist's tree because the graceful curve of the truck and branches are so beautiful.
Today is July 26, 2026, I have been journaling about the sourwood tree today. I live in the woods with a very big Sourwood tree near my house. It is so big and strong and blows in the wind today. I wrote a Haiku to the sourwood today.
Your leaves are green now
Your trunk bends in many curves
Your fall leaves are red
May you all find a sourwood tree to visit and journal about and may you sample the honey the bees make from the sourwood flowers. The honey is such a delight
For the love of the trees,
Becky
