I don't like throwing the fruit away (garbage collection) and they don't decompose well in my garden. This tree is often planted in parks where its height, ranging from 70-120 feet, and sprawling branches, spreading 40-50 feet, create … An ancestor of Liquidambar styraciflua is known from Tertiary-aged fossils in Alaska, Greenland, and the mid-continental plateau of North America, much further north than Liquidambar now grows. As a monoecious plant, a sweet gum bears male and female flowers. It is called "sweet-gum" for the tasty, thick sap harvested from under the bark and used for everything from poultices to chewing gum. Sweet gum is one of the main valuable forest trees in the southeastern United States, and is a popular ornamental tree in temperate climates. We have loads of color, and I’ve been enjoying some of my favorite trees as I drive around the community. This common name helps to differentiate from a different ‘gum tree’ species Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica). [13] Trees may live to 400 years. Infection and fungal development of D. dryina were investigated on leaves of sweet gum using a combination of microscopic techniques. Sweet gum is a larval host plant for the beautiful luna moth. When the fruit opens and the seeds are released, each capsule is associated with a small hole (40–60 of these) in the compound fruit. Dawn Combs lives in Ohio with her family and is the co-owner of the herbal health farm Mockingbird Meadows, chief soda jerk at her family’s unique storefront apothecary called Soda Pharm and the master formulator of their herb- and honey-based products. You’ll have to love the tree for all its other qualities. Truthfully, it is probably my favorite fall color. Sweet gum wood is a favorite for furniture, and the sap is added to tincture of benzoin and found often in incense. It is a kind of native balsam, or resin, resembling turpentine. Its fruit cluster is a round ball often persisting in winter, as if the naked branches had been hung with woody Christmas ornaments. Whether you love them or hate them, there is no denying the sweet gum’s significance in our state’s history over the years. [17], They are long and broad, with a 6–10 cm (2 1⁄4–4 in) petiole. Missourians have long used the sweet gum’s lumber for cabinets, furniture, flooring and other interior uses. The tree has been busy growing for so many years that it hasn’t really shown us much in the fall. Tannins (a type of biomolecule found in trees to protect it from fire, insects, and bacteria) have been reported to occur in healthy tissue of a variety of plants including sweet gum. When the seeds mature they turn black, but while they are still yellow they contain shikimic acid, the same ingredient in Tamiflu that was originally harvested only from star anise. In the carpentry industry, the timber is referred to as satin walnut[12] and is one of the most important materials for plywood manufacturers. We have a sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) in the front yard. Your email address will not be published. They were formerly often treated in Hamamelidaceae.They are decorative deciduous trees that are used in the wood … [7], Another distinctive feature of the tree is the peculiar appearance of its small branches and twigs. In other regions of the U.S., sweet gum populations may not be as susceptible to local populations of this fungus. - Sweet Gum Tree Fruit - Download Free 3D model by Abby Crawford (@abbyec) [e5ca16a] The distinctive compound fruit is hard, dry, and globose,1–1.5 inches (25–38 mm) in diameter, composed of numerous (40–60) capsules. [22], Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) is one of the most important commercial hardwoods in the Southeastern United States. In scientific nomenclature, the sweet gum tree is called Liquidambar styraciflua.This name was derived from the tree’s innate property of secreting a resin-like substance. In China, the spiky fruit of the sweet gum tree has been used in herbal medicines as a cure for indigestion and anemia. This plant's genus name Liquidambar was first given by Linnaeus in 1753 from [the Latin] liquidus, fluid, and the Arabic ambar, amber, in allusion to the fragrant terebinthine juice or gum which exudes from the tree. The sweet gum resembles a maple tree, and in the summer, the star-shaped leaves and sturdy trunk are impressive, if easily overlooked. [14] In abundance, they can leave a lawn lumpy. The species is also known as the "red gum", for its reddish bark.[9]. Sweet gum tea was used as an herbal treatment for the flu and the Cherokee made a tea … "[10] The Sweetgum is botanically called Liquidambar styraciflua . [12] They are 3–5 inches wide on average and have three distinct bundle scars. See more ideas about sweet gum, sweet gum tree crafts, tree crafts. It's grown as an ornamental tree in southwestern British Columbia, where I live. Sweet gum seeds are eaten by many species of birds, including goldfinch, purple finch, sparrows, mourning doves, wild turkey, northern bobwhite, and wood duck, as well as by squirrels and chipmunks. Staminate flowers destitute of calyx and corolla, but are surrounded by hairy bracts. The inner bark of the tree also produces a resin that is a … It was formerly used in the interior finish of railroad sleeping cars. It's an introduced plant in the province but does well here. It takes the sweet gum tree 20 to 30 years to mature enough to produce its fruit. Please let us know a convenient time to call you on, (*All time slots are available in CDT zone.). The tree has a pyramid shape that becomes rounded as the tree matures. The base is truncate or slightly heart-shaped. It has a corky bark and bears hard, … The sweet gum got its name for the resinous sap that results when you score its bark. Witch-Hazel Family (Hamemelidaceae) The fruits of liquidambar or sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) are composed of a spherical cluster of small capsules, each capsule with a sharp-pointed style and a pericarp bearing one or two tiny winged seeds. While you wait, the tree has much to offer. The bark attaches itself to these in plates edgewise instead of laterally, and a piece of the leafless branch with the aid of a little imagination readily takes on a reptilian form; indeed, the tree is sometimes called "alligatorwood". [28], Liquidambar styraciflua is a popular ornamental and forestal tree, cultivated for its distinctive foliage and intense autumn colors. This shade tree is native throughout the eastern and midwestern United … This species occurs abundantly at Highlands Hammock State Park, Sebring, Highlands County, FL, and even southwest of Lake Okeechobee. It hails from the Altingiaceae family tree, belonging to the Saxifragales order. Sweet gum sap has caught the attention of medical researchers, and we know that much of its folkloric uses are now backed with scientific reasoning. The vicious seed pods have impaled many a forager and has done much to ruin the Sweet Gums reputation. The tree is an active member of the flowering plant. Aromatic when bruised, its foliage of star-shaped, 5-7 … Get to Know the Medicinal Uses of Sweet Gum Sap & Fruit. The resin is produced by stripping, boiling, and pressing the tree's bark. It can be found throughout most of the United States as a forest tree in the Southeast and an ornamental in gardens and cities. This means that only one tree is needed for the flowers to be pollinated, and a single tree can produce the spiky fruits even when another sweet gum tree is not in sight. The winter buds are yellow brown, one-fourth of an inch long, acute. [11][25] The wood is also used to make chopsticks for the East Asian market, as it has a naturally light color with appeal to certain segments of the Asian market. Growing sweet gum tree: Transplant when young -- the sweet gum resents root disturbance when it … A similar plant is also found in Miocene deposits of the Tertiary of Europe. Native to eastern North America, Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweet Gum) is a magnificent, large, deciduous tree adorned with a straight trunk and a broadly conical crown. [7], The US government distribution maps for this species are incorrect concerning the southern limit of distribution in Florida. Brown fibrous balls composed of closely packed seeds with long, narrow wings sacred in India because of the:.