Liquid amber botanical
In Mexico and Central America , it is a characteristic plant of cloud forests , growing at middle elevations in various mountainous areas where the climate is humid and more temperate. The US government distribution maps for this species are incorrect concerning the southern limit of distribution in Florida.
South Florida Atlas of Florida Plants [11]. Grown as an ornamental tree in Australia, liquidambar styraciflua has a distribution on mainland Australia from Victoria all the way up to the Atherton tablelands in far North Queensland in 'tropical' climates.
One of the dominant deciduous trees planted throughout subtropical Brisbane. Another distinctive feature of the tree is the peculiar appearance of its small branches and twigs.
The bark attaches itself to these in plates edgewise instead of laterally, and a piece of the leafless branch with the aid of a little imagination readily takes on a reptilian form; indeed, the tree is sometimes called "alligatorwood". However, the wood is heavy and hard with an interlocking grain, [6] but is difficult to season.
The leaves usually have five but sometimes three or seven sharply pointed palmate lobes. They are long and broad, with a 6—10 centimetres 2. The rich dark green, smooth, shiny, star-shaped leaves generally turn brilliant orange, red, and purple colors in the autumn.
Its reds and yellows compare to that of the maples Acer , and in addition it has the dark purples and smoky browns of the ash Fraxinus. On the other hand, in the extreme southern or tropical parts of its range, some trees are evergreen or semi-evergreen, with negligible fall color. The leaves are three to seven inches broad with glandular serrate teeth. The base is truncate or slightly heart-shaped. They come out of the bud plicate, downy, pale green, when full grown are bright green, smooth, shining above, paler beneath.
While the starry five-pointed leaves of Liquidambar resemble those of some maples Acer , Liquidambar is easily distinguished from Acer by its glossy, leathery leaves that are positioned singly alternate , not in pairs opposite on the stems. Luna and Promethea moth caterpillars feed on the leaves.
The flowers typically appear in March to May and persist into Autumn, sometimes persisting into the Winter. They are typically about 1—1. Staminate flowers in terminal racemes two to three inches long, the pistillate in a solitary head on a slender peduncle borne in the axil of an upper leaf.
Staminate flowers destitute of calyx and corolla, but are surrounded by hairy bracts. Stamens indefinite; filaments short; anthers introrse. Pistillate flowers with a two-celled, two-beaked ovary, the carpels produced into a long, recurved, persistent style.
The ovaries all more or less cohere and harden in fruit. There are many ovules but few mature. The distinctive compound fruit is hard, dry, and globose,1—1. When the fruit opens and the seeds are released, each capsule is associated with a small hole of these in the compound fruit. Fallen, opened fruits are often abundant beneath the trees; these have been popularly nicknamed "burr or bir balls", [14] "gum balls", [19] "space bugs", "sticker balls", [20] or "spike balls".
The fruit is a multicapsular spherical head and hangs on the branches during the winter. The woody capsules are mostly filled with abortive seeds resembling sawdust. Goldfinches, purple finches, squirrels, and chipmunks eat the seeds of the tree. The long-persisting fallen spiked fruits can be unpleasant to walk on; sweet gum is banned in some places for this reason.
The winter buds are yellow brown, one-fourth of an inch long, acute. The inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot, becoming half an inch long, green tipped with red. Sweetgum Liquidambar styraciflua is one of the most important commercial hardwoods in the Southeastern United States [ citation needed ]. Its wood is bright reddish brown with the sapwood nearly white and may have black grain in the heartwood; it is heavy, straight, satiny, and close-grained, but not strong. It takes a beautiful polish, but warps badly in drying.
The wood has a specific gravity of 0. It is too liable to decay for outdoor use. It is used for furniture, interior trim, railroad ties, cigar boxes, crates, flooring, barrels, woodenware, and wood pulp. The wood is very compact and fine-grained, the heartwood being reddish, and, when cut into planks, marked transversely with blackish belts. Sweetgum is used principally for lumber, veneer, plywood, slack cooperage, fuel, and pulpwood.
The lumber is made into boxes and crates, furniture, cabinets for radios, televisions, and phonographs, interior trim, and millwork. The veneer and plywood, typically backed with some other kind of wood which shrinks and warps less are used for boxes, pallets, crates, baskets, and interior woodwork.
It was formerly used in the interior finish of railroad sleeping cars. Being readily dyed black, it is sometimes substituted for ebony for such uses as inexpensive picture frames. The tree's gum resin, for which the tree is named, exudes from the bark of the tree when wounded. It is a kind of native balsam, or resin, resembling turpentine. It may be clear, reddish, or yellow, with a pleasant smell like ambergris.
As the resin ages, it solidifies, the form in which it was historically exported in barrels. The resin is produced by stripping, boiling, and pressing the tree's bark. Liquidambar styraciflua is a popular ornamental and forestal tree, cultivated for its distinctive foliage and intense autumn colors.
It is commonly grown throughout its native North American range as well as many other temperate parts of the world. The species grows best in moist, acidic loam or clay soil , and tolerates poor drainage. It typically grows with other coastal plain species such as willow oak and sweetbay magnolia. Chlorosis can develop on alkaline soil, especially where organic matter is low.
Also, the American sweetgum tree doesn't grow well in shady areas. Among the many cultivars of Liquidambar styraciflua are those marked agm have gained the Royal Horticultural Society 's Award of Garden Merit: The imperfect fungus Tubakia dryina Sutton is a leaf parasite reported to occur on a wide range of host plants, including species of Sweet Gum Liquidambar styraciflua L.
They are decorative deciduous trees that are used in the wood industry and for ornamental purposes. Both the scientific and common names refer to the sweet resinous sap liquid amber exuded by the trunk when cut. Their leaves can be many colors such as bright red, Orange and yellow. The fruit is a woody multiple capsule 2—4 centimetres 0.
The woody biomass is classified as hardwood. In more northerly climates, sweetgum is among the last of trees to leaf out in the spring, and also among the last of trees to drop its leaves in the fall, turning multiple colors. Fall colors are most brilliant where autumn nights are chilly, but some cultivars color well in warm climates.
Although a temperate species, at least one living Liquidambar tree survives in a hot and humid tropical city: In cultivation they can be seen in warm temperate and subtropical climates around the world. This genus is known in the fossil record from the Cretaceous to the Quaternary age range: It has also disappeared from western North America due to climate change, and also from the unglaciated but nowadays too cold Russian Far East. There are several fossil species of Liquidambar , showing its relict status today.
The wood is used for furniture, interior finish, paper pulp, veneers and baskets of all kinds. The heartwood once was used in furniture, sometimes as imitation mahogany or Circassian walnut. It is used widely today in flake and strand boards. Sweetgum is a foodplant for various Lepidoptera caterpillars , such as the gypsy moth.
The American sweetgum is widely planted as an ornamental, within its natural range and elsewhere. The hardened sap, or gum resin, excreted from the wounds of the sweetgum, for example, the American sweetgum Liquidambar styraciflua , can be chewed on like chewing gum and has been long used for this purpose in the Southern United States.
In Chinese herbal medicine, lu lu tong , or "all roads open," is the hard, spiky fruit of native sweetgum species.