American Sweetgum Sweet Gum Tree Leaves

Mixed buds of the american sweetgum form in mid september and the tree drops its leaves in the fall and goes dormant during winter.

American sweetgum sweet gum tree leaves. After dormancy the small green flowers of the sweetgum begin to bloom from march to may. Sweet gum trees liquidambar styraciflua are a common sight in the eastern united states and in several central american and southern mexican regions. This tree is monoecious meaning that it has both staminate and. The widely distributed maple is part of the much larger sapindaceae family and includes trees as different as the japanese maple the horse chestnut and the lychee.

Some communities have large numbers of sweetgum planted as street trees. The american sweetgum tree liquidambar styraciflua is a beautiful tree that is native to the southeastern united states. Sweetgum are native to the southeastern united states and belong to the altingiaceae family. It takes the sweet gum tree 20 to 30 years to mature enough to produce its fruit.

Plant trees 8 to 10 feet or more from curbs. If you re afraid of the messy gumballs or seed pods produced by many sweetgums look for a non fruiting variety of this popular tree. Its shape is pyramidal becoming more rounded with age and yields long stemmed. The sweet gum liquidambar styraciflua is part of a rather small family of only one genus known as the altingiaceae.

The gum has long been harvested and used for chewing gum. Much of the root system is shallow. Facts on the sweet gum tree. The trees spike ball fruit is almost as telltale for identification as the star shaped leaves.

This stately tree. American sweetgum are deciduous trees prized for their star shaped leaves that turn a mix of brilliant fall colors. It produces star shaped leaves that remain on the tree until quite late into the fall providing brilliant fall color with leaves turning vibrant shades of yellow orange red and purple. The others are found only in asia.

American sweetgum liquidambar styraciflua also known as american storax hazel pine bilsted redgum satin walnut star leaved gum alligatorwood or simply sweetgum is a deciduous tree in the genus liquidambar native to warm temperate areas of eastern north america and tropical montane regions of mexico and central america sweet gum is one of the main valuable forest trees in the. The sweet gum got its name for the resinous sap that results when you score its bark. It is not however sweet. Like the maple the sweetgum is also known for the rich spectrum of color it.

The sweetgum tree is native to the southeastern united states and a member of a genus made up of only six species. While you wait the tree has much to offer. From march to april meiosis occurs to produce haploid gametes with pollen dispersal occurring afterward. Uses for a sweet gum tree.

The first historical reference to the tree comes from the author and soldier don bernal diaz del castillo who accompanied cortez in 1519 and was a witness to ceremonies between cortez and montezuma who both partook of a liquid amber extracted.