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I came across a single sour gum tree, growing uncharacteristically in a dry grassland, that had turned such a fluorescent magenta that it could never be photographed properly.

THE sour gum, often called black gum, is found in many types of soil and in most conditions of soil moisture in southern Illinois, but it becomes rare in the northern half of the State.

The number of seeds distributed by crows is enormous, and consists of many species, including poison ivy and poison sumac, wild cherry, dogwood, red cedar, sour gum, and Virginia creeper.

Skirting the stream out toward the higher back woods, I chanced to spy a bunch of snow in one of the great sour gums, that I thought was an old nest.

The enlarged base and the larger fruit serve to distinguish it from the sour gum.