Sweet gum, a tree of the Witch hazel family (Hamamelidaceae), native of the eastern United States, also Mexico and Central America. Along the rivers of the south-eastern United States, Sweet gums exceed 125 ft. in height and 4 ft. in diameter. The deeply cut grey or brownish-grey bark forms winged projections on the twigs. The alternate, palmate, shiny leaves have usually five pointed, finely toothed lobes, and are fragrant when bruised. In the autumn the star-shaped leaves turn brilliant red to purple, making a valuable ornamental tree. The staminate flowers are inconspicuous, the pistillate in spherical heads maturing into long-stalked, globose masses of spiky-tipped capsules. The wood is fine-grained, moderately hard and fairly strong; the heartwood is known as red gum and hazelwood, is variously colored red and brown, the sapwood is paler. From incisions made in the tree a gum exudes which is resinous (storax) and adhesive, and somewhat like white turpentine in appearance, which finally hardens.
Bark and branches
The tree is the peculiar appearance of its small branches and twigs. Bark attaches itself to these in plates edgewise instead of laterally and a piece of leafless branch with aid of little imagination readily takes on reptilian form. The bark is a light brown tinged with red and gray with dark steaks weighing 37 lbs. per cubic foot.
Leaves
Leaves have five sharply pointed palmate lobes, 3-5 inches wide on average and have three distinct bundle scars. Leaves have 6-10 cm petiole. They are rich dark green, shiny, smooth and star-shaped which turns brilliant orange, red and purple colors in autumn. Leaves are 3 to 7 inches broad with glandular serrate teeth. Base is truncated and slightly heart-shaped.
Facts About Sweetgum
| Name | Sweetgum |
|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Liquidambar styraciflua |
| Native | North America |
| Common/English Name | Star-Leaved Gum, Red Gum |
| Name in Other Languages | English: American-storax, Alligator-wood, Red-gum, Satin-walnut, Sweet-gum, Sweetgum; French: Copalme d’Amérique, Liquidambar; Swedish: Ambraträd; German: Amerikanischer Amberbaum |
| Soil | Deep, rich, moist, slightly acidic |
| Plant Size | 75 feet and spread to 50 feet |
| Bark | Dark and deeply furrowed |
| Leaf | Glossy, star-shaped, turns bright red, purple, yellow or orange, 3-7 inches broad, 18 cm wide with long |
| Flowering Season | March to May |
| Flower | 1-1.5 inches (25-38 mm) in diameter |
| Fruit shape & size | Round, globose, 1–1.5 inches (25–38 mm) in diameter |
| Fruit color | Brown |
| Medicinal parts | The bark and concrete juice |
Sweetgum Scientific Classification
Scientific Name: Liquidambar styraciflua
| Rank | Scientific Name & (Common Name) |
|---|---|
| Kingdom | Plantae (Plants) |
| Subkingdom | Viridiplantae (Green plants) |
| Infrakingdom | Streptophyta (Land plants) |
| Superdivision | Embryophyta |
| Division | Tracheophyta (Vascular plants, tracheophytes) |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Saxifragales |
| Family | Altingiaceae |
| Genus | Liquidambar L. (Sweetgum) |
| Species | Liquidambar styraciflua L. (Sweetgum) |
| Synonyms |
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Flower
Flowers bloom in March to May and are about 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter and are covered with rusty hairs. Flowers are unisexual and greenish in color. Staminate flowers form in terminal racemes about 2 to 3 inches long.
Fruit
Flowers are followed by dry, hard, globose fruit about 1-1.5 inches in diameter which comprises of numerous 40 to 60 capsules. Each capsule has one to two small seeds and a pair of terminal spikes. Woody capsules are filled with abortive seeds that resemble sawdust. Seeds are winged and one-quarter of an inch thick and dispersed by wind. Winter buds are yellow-brown and one-fourth of an inch long. Inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot and become half an inch long and green tipped with red.
Uses
As a remedy for catarrhs of genito-urinary passages coughs of pulmonary affection generally, gonorrhea, gleet, amenorrhoea, leucorrhoea, phthisis (wasting disease, tuberculosis of the lung, consumption), and asthma. Also excellent for bloody flux, dysentery, and all bowel complaints of children.
Dose
1 teaspoonful of the cut or granulated bark to 1 cupful of boiling water; drink 1 or 2 cupfuls a mouthful at a time during the day; adjust to condition and age.
Externally
The balsamic juice may be melted with equal parts of olive oil or tallow as a detergent ointment when conditions of indolent ulcers, frostbite, scabies, itch, ringworm, fistula, scrofula, fever sores, and hemorrhoids are present.
Culinary uses
- Resin is used in chewing gum or as a stabilizer for cakes.
- It is also chewed to sweeten breath.
Medicinal uses
- The resin extracted from the trunk acts as antiseptic, diuretic, carminative, expectorant, poultice, parasiticide, stimulant, sedative, salve and vulnerable.
- Chew the resin for treating sore throats, asthma, coughs, dysentery, and cystitis.
- Apply it externally for sores, piles, wounds, ringworm, piles, and scabies.
- The inner bark is used for treating diarrhea and childhood cholera.
- Add the leaves to bathes for soothing or healing skin.
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