What is a Liquidambar Leaf?
Sweet gum is one of the main valuable forest trees in the southeastern United States, and is a popular ornamental tree in temperate climates. It is recognizable by the combination of its five-pointed star-shaped leaves (similar to maple leaves) and its hard, spiked fruits.
What is the leaf arrangement of a sweetgum tree?
Sweet gum is a large tree with a long, cylindrical trunk, pyramidal crown, and corky wings on branches and twigs. Leaves are alternate, simple, star-shaped, with 5 (sometimes 7) lobes, 3–6 inches wide, deeply lobed; margin toothed, tips long-pointed; leaves slightly aromatic when bruised.
What are sweet gum leaves good for?
Many of the medicinal properties of sweetgum are derived from the resinous sap that exudes when the outer bark of the tree has been damaged. The sap, known as storax, has been used for centuries to treat common ailments such as skin problems, coughs, and ulcers.
Is Liquidambar Styraciflua poisonous?
Sweet gum trees are easy to grow, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden, and are hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 9. The tree is not toxic to dogs and cats, but the seedpods do present a different type of health threat if your pet were to step on one.
Is Liquidambar a maple?
The Liquidambar Tree is an elegant tree grown for their maple like foliage and spectacular orange, red and purple colour in autumn.
What type of tree is Liquidambar?
Sweetgum trees (botanical name Liquidambar) are a species of large deciduous flowering trees with large lobed leaves, small globular flowers, and seed-containing spiky gumballs. Sweetgum trees are identified by their colorful lobed leaves that can be orange, red, yellow, or purple colors in the fall.
Is a sweetgum tree a maple?
Sweet gum tree has maple-like leaves that turn yellow to red in the fall. See more pictures of trees. Sweet gum tree is a tall, majestic tree that’s difficult to beat for symmetrical beauty in a landscape setting. Although native to eastern North America, it is widely planted throughout the continent in its range.
What is the leaf margin of a sweetgum?
serrated
The leaves of the Sweetgum is hand shaped, lobed with typically five leaf tips. The leaf margin is serrated. blossom description: The greenish flowers are inconspicuous, because they are of the same color as the leaves and sprout together.
Do all sweetgum trees have balls?
Not all species of sweetgum trees have balls. Some fruitless varieties of sweetgum trees, such as the sweetgum ‘Rotundiloba,’ don’t produce the seedpods. This means that there is no mess from these sweetgums and their flowers rarely mature into spiky gumballs.
What is the purpose of a gumball tree?
Gumball trees are important to the timber industry. The timber industry uses the trees for many purposes including lumber, plywood, pulp, fuel and railroad ties. Other uses include furniture, flooring, veneer, wooden dishes, interior trim and paper.
What are the spiky balls that fall off trees?
Trees With Spiked Seed Pods. If you’ve encountered some round, spiny balls under a tree or maybe still on the plant, and you’re wondering what it could be, it’s likely one of several options: buckeye/horsechestnut (Aesculus), chestnut (Castanea), or sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua).
How do you pick up sweet gum balls?
Raking or Blowing. Raking with a close-tined rake and bagging is an effective way of removing the balls, as well as for getting exercise. An additional method for removal is by blowing them into a pile with a power blower, ready for bagging. Tall grass interferes with the efficiency of both these methods.
What are the characteristics of Liquidambar styraciflua?
Description 1 Size. Liquidambar styraciflua is a medium-sized to large tree, growing anywhere from 15–20 m (50–70 ft) in cultivation and up to 45 m (150 ft) in the wild, with a 2 Bark and branches. Another distinctive feature of the tree is the peculiar appearance of its small branches and twigs. 3 Leaves. 4 Flowers. 5 Fruit.
What is the history of the Liquidambar tree?
History. The earliest known published record of Liquidambar styraciflua is in a work by Spanish naturalist Francisco Hernández published posthumously in 1615, in which he describes the species as a large tree producing a fragrant gum resembling liquid amber, whence the genus name Liquidambar.
What is the difference between Acer and Liquidambar?
While the starry five-pointed leaves of Liquidambar resemble those of some maples ( Acer ), Liquidambar is easily distinguished from Acer by its glossy, leathery leaves that are positioned singly ( alternate ), not in pairs (opposite) on the stems.
What does a star leaf look like in the fall?
The beautifully glossy, star-shaped leaves turn bright red, purple, yellow, or orange in the fall (USDA hardiness zones 6 and 7) and early winter (USDA hardiness zones 8 and 9). On some trees, particularly in the northern part of its range, branches are covered with characteristic corky projections.