Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

The Sweetgum—with its star-shaped leaves, neatly compact crown, unusual fruit and twigs with unique corky growths called wings—is an attractive shade tree. It has become a prized specimen in parks, campuses and large yards across the country.

The Sweetgum is native to the southeastern United States. The first historical reference to the tree comes from Don Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a soldier who accompanied Cortez in 1519. He reported that the Aztecs drank the liquid amber extracted from this tree. Once commercially popular for soaps, adhesives and pharmaceuticals; today its wood is valuable for fine furniture and interior finishing.

Sweetgum has a spreading canopy capable of blocking sunlight and adds visual interest and beauty to landscaping. The glossy green leaves turn beautiful shades of yellow, orange, red and purple in the autumn.

In the 1950s and 1960s Sweetgum was a popular choice for suburban yards since it grows relatively fast, has a pleasing symmetrical shape and fabulous fall color. However, the fruit of the Sweetgum, known as a “gumball,” becomes spiky brown seed-carrying hull which can be messy, difficult to walk on and are thrown out by lawnmowers. Because of the gumballs, the Sweetgum is rarely planted today and has virtually disappeared from tree nursery catalogs.

Finches, nuthatches and chickadees love Sweetgum seeds which they can extract from the gumball. Fortunately for them. there is a new nearly fruitless cultivar, ‘Rotundiloba.’