Sweetgum

Sweetgum

Liquidambar styraciflua

Hamamelidaceae (Witchhazel Family)

▲ mature tree

▲ ▼ leaves, with some immature fruit visible below

▲ some trees have corky growths on some twigs

▲ trunk and bark

Location on Missouri State University campus: east of Plaster Student Union, in island by Siceluff Hall

Liquidambar styraciflua: Sweetgum

• leaves alternate, deciduous, simple, palmately 5-7 lobed with serrate lobes; 4-7.5" long and equally wide; dark green and glossy above, lighter beneath; often with good fall color yellow, orange, red purple
• stems slender to stout, some with thick, corky wings; usually yellow to brown; pith star-shaped, solid white to brown
• bark gray-brown with deep furrows and rounded ridges
• grows 60-75' tall with 2/3 as wide in upright, oval outline
• fruit is a spiny pediceled ball (syncarp of capsules)
• prefers full sun and deep, moist, well-drained, acidic, high organic-matter soil, but tolerates most soils; fleshy roots sensitive during transplanting
• medium to fast growth rate
• native to Missouri