Liquidambar styraciflua

COMMON NAME: American Sweetgum; Sweet Gum; Redgum

FAMILY: Witch-Hazel Family; Hamamelidaceae

GROWTH HABIT: A large tree (60 - 75 ft.) with a tall, full crown.

FOLIAGE: Simple, alternate, deciduous. Star-shaped, usually with five pointed lobes. About as long as wide; 3 1/2 - 8 1/2 in. Sharply toothed. Palmately veined. Glabrous, but for tufts of hair in vein axils below. Petiole slender, anywhere from 2 - 7 in. long. Autumn color; variable, often with several colors on the same tree.

BUDS: Large terminal bud 1/4 to 1/2 in. long, lateral buds smaller. Reddish green-brown, glossy, sometimes fragrant when crushed.

BARK: Thick, furrowed, gray-brown. Twigs often with corky "wings."

FLOWERS: Male and female on the same tree. Inconspicuous yellow-green round heads, with the young leaves in spring.

FRUIT: Prickly sphere on a long, slender stalk, containing many beaked two-seeded capsules. Sphere 1 - 1 1/2 in. in diameter. Often remains on tree through the winter.

NATURAL HISTORY: A common bottom-land tree of very widespread occurrence in the south and found on many types of soil.

NATIVE HABITAT: Southern Connecticut and New York to Florida; west to Illinois, eastern Oklahoma, and Texas.