Description
Liquidambar – Sweetgum –
There are 4 species of tall, deciduous, monoecious trees in this genus. They occur in moist woodland in Eastern and Southwestern Asia, Turkey, North America and Mexico. They are grown for their particularly for their attractive foliage, which colors in shades of orange, red, and purple in autumn, and for their conical form. The maple like leaves are alternate and palmately 3 to 7 lobed. In conspicuous, yellow-green flowers are held in rounded heads in late spring, the female flowers are followed by spiky, spherical fruit clusters. Sweetgums are excellent as street tree, or as specimen trees.
Grow in moderately fertile, preferably acidic or neutral, moist but well drained soil, in full sun for best autumn color, or partial shade. Tolerates alkaline soil.
Prone to leaf spot, bleeding canker, butt rot, wood rot, webworm, tent caterpillars, weevils, and borers.
L. styaciflua ‘Gumball’ – This is probably the most widely grown Sweet gum. It is a narrow conical tree from Eastern USA and Central America and grows 10-15′ feet tall and half as wide. It has dark, grayish, brown, deeply furrowed bark. It produces palmately 5 to 7 finely toothed, tapering lobes, glossy, dark green leaves, to 6″ across, turn orange to red and purple in autumn. In spring it bears globular heads of small yellow green flowers followed by spiky, ball like fruit clusters.
Zones 7-9
