

This makes it a tree that is just as purposeful to use as it is beautiful to look upon. The Sweet Gum Tree holds value due to its edible sap that makes chewing gum, its leaves that transform into brilliant fall foliage, and its wood that makes for high-quality timber. These Gumballs are also an identifying characteristic for the Sweet Gum Tree, because more often than not, you can find these Gumballs strewn around the ground near Liquidambar styraciflua. This includes hummingbirds, butterflies, and moths. While this Gumball remains quite infamous for causing issues such as injuries and inconvenience when they are dropped to the ground by the tree, the Sweet Gum Tree remains favorable among birds and insects who drink nectar as a source of nutrition. It is also popular by the name of Gumball Tree, which comes from its fruiting head that holds a spherical shape and has a spiky appearance that is hard to the touch. Liquidambar styraciflua is also known as Redgum and Red Sweet Gum Tree. Since Sweet Gum Trees do not respond well to being grown from cuttings, 8 these seeds are the ideal way to grow new Sweet Gum Trees.īut if you require these seeds for planting, you need to make sure that you gather them right after the green gumball turns a brown color. Each gumball has either one or two seeds in it. Sweet gum tree seeds are tiny in size and remain encased in the gumball produced by the tree. If the flower is female, it produces the gumballs that make the sweet gum tree divisive among gardeners and homeowners. The sweet gum tree flower appears in clusters that have a sphere shape. What Does Sweet Gum Tree Flower Look Like? This fall foliage is one of the many reasons that earns the Sweet Gum Tree its popularity. 2 The leaves are light green to deep green.īut in fall, they turn into a spectacular mixture of colors that include shades of yellow, orange, scarlet, and purple. Sweet Gum Tree leaves have toothed edges and can reach 4-8 inches in size.

These palmate leaves possess a long stalk, have a star shape, and boast of 5-7 lobes that spread from the petiole. Sweet Gum Tree leaves have a distinct shape that resembles the leaves of Maple Trees. Instead, you only have to be aware of the appearance of these leaves. This means that you don’t need to learn how many leaves are on a tree of Sweet Gum. In fall, their color can include shades of yellow, orange, red, and purple. In summer, these palmate leaves can be green in color. Since each Sweet Gum Tree has male and female flowers, there are high chances that the tree that you see has already produced highly distinct gumballs and dropped them to the ground around itself.īut in cases where you cannot see these gumballs, you can take a look at the leaves and determine if they have the 5- or 7-lobed star shape with toothed edges. Heartwood, only sparingly produced in Britain, is called satin walnut, a fine timber prized by cabinet makers.You can identify a Sweet Gum Tree with two distinct characteristics in the form of its fruit and leaves. It hardens when exposed to the air.Īlthough bitter to the taste it was used in America as chewing gum to sweeten the breath. The name alludes to the yellowish-brown gum that exudes from bark fissures. Sweet gum was introduced to Fulham Palace in 1681.
#SWEET GUM TREE FULL#
Sweet Gum will grow on most soils where there is adequate moisture, trees grown in a rich, damp soil in full sun will colour best. Seed capsules, which are superficially like London plane, are globular inflorescences suspended on a thin flexible peduncle. Suitable as specimens or for woodland gardens. A genus of hardy, deciduous trees of upright habit and cultivated mainly for their maple-like foliage. The Sweet Gum with its heavy crown of rich green, shiny, big star-like leaves has few equals for summer foliage and autumn colours. The leaves are lustrous green all summer, then the foliage turns the most stunning range of reds, scarlets, purples and yellows in autumn.

Liquid amber styraciflua (Sweet Gum) -The Autumn foliage colours of sweet gum are superb. Highly recommended! This gorgeous beacon of autumn will look great as a specimen tree to draw the eye at this time of year, especially in the sun when its leaves colour will deepen.
