Sweetgum

TREES

GENUS/SPECIES

Liquidambar styraciflua

FAMILY

Hamamelidaceae

SYNONYMS

Common: Gum, Sweet

DISTRIBUTION

Eastern US

E Texas eastward to central Florida
Florida northward to SE Connecticut
Connecticut southwestward to SE Illinois and E Texas
Absent from much of Appalachian region
Often cultivated in S California

Human Product Number - 137

Veterinary Product Number - 137

Comments

Sweetgum is a very distinct species that becomes a large tree under suitable growing conditions, which typically involve moist soils. The leaves are rather star-shaped with their five or seven lobes. Flowers develop in the early spring, with male flowers in small clusters that soon fall from the tree, and female flowers in rounded clusters that ripen into a prickly ball over an inch in diameter. The rather abundant pollen is spread by wind.