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Liquidambar styraciflua

American sweetgum

Blatt (CC BY-SA 2.1 es) Luis Fernández García

Short Description

The American sweetgum is deciduous and can grow up to 20 m tall in Central Europe.

The leaves grow alternately on the branches and have five sharply pointed palmate lobes. The leaf margins are serrated.

The bark is light grey, turning dark-grey later, with a thick cork-like reticulated bark.

The flowers are greenish in colour and rather unremarkable. They are arranged in small spherical clusters.

The fruits are thorny spheres with a long stem. They can consist of up to 40 capsules.

Features

American sweetgum

Liquidambar styraciflua

  • irregular cork ridges along the branches

  • hanging, spherical fruits

Similar species

Sycamore

Acer pseudoplatanus
The leaves of the sycamore maple are arranged in opposite pairs on the branch. The wings of the nut fruits are arranged at an acute angle to each other.

London plane

Platanus ×hispanica
The trunk of the London plane has a mottled appearance with a grey to yellowish-brown bark flaking off in large irregular sections. The leaves are alternately arranged on the branches.

Norway maple

Acer platanoides
The leaves of the Norway maple are arranged in opposite pairs on the branch and the leaf margins are sharply serrated. The wings of the nut fruits are arranged at an obtuse angle to each other.
Habitus (CC BY-SA 2.5) Shawn Hanrahan

In the city

The American sweetgum prefers light to semi-shaded sites.

It is often planted as an ornamental and park tree because of its striking fall color, which ranges from lemon yellow to purple.

Fun Facts

  • If the tree is injured, it excretes a resin-like fluid that was formerly used in the USA in the production of chewing gum.

  • It flowers in May.

  • The fruit ripening season is August to September.

  • Endangerment level Germany: not evaluated

  • The American sweetgum originates from eastern North America and Mexico. It is a non-native plant (neophyte).

Frucht (CC BY-SA 4.0) Luis Fernández García

Sources

Blatt, Luis Fernández García, CC BY-SA 2.1 es, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liquidambar-styraciflua-foliage.jpg

Habitus, Shawn Hanrahan, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liquidambar_styraciflua_sjh.JPG

Frucht, Luis Fernández García, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liquidambar_styraciflua_20131017a.jpg

Böhlmann, D. (2015) Laubbäume temperierter Klimate mit ihrer Artenvielfalt, Berlin: Patzer Verlag.

Roloff, A. (2013) Bäume in der Stadt. Besonderheiten - Funktion - Nutzen - Arten - Risiken, Stuttgart: Verlag Eugen Ulmer.

Mitchell, A. (1975) Die Wald- und Parkbäume Europas. Ein Bestimmungsbuch, Hamburg und Berlin: Verlag Paul Parey.

Page „Amerikanischer Amberbaum“. : Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Date of last revision: 22.10.2015, 09:25 UTC. URL: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amerikanischer_Amberbaum&oldid=147262030 (Accessed: 19.05.2016).