SWEETGUM - Liquidambar stryraciflua, Linn.
SWEETGUM WAS FIRST mentioned in the annals of Don Bernal Diaz del Castillo who accompanied Cortez in 1519 on the conquest of Mexico.
A witness of the ceremonies between Cortez and Montezuma recorded that "after he had dined, the presented to him (Cortez) three little canes, highly ornamented, containing liquid amber, mixed with an herb they call tobacco, and when he had sufficiently viewed and heard the singers, dancers, and buffoons, he took a little of the smoke of one of the canes."
The fruit is a prickly cone-like ball about 1 1/2 inches in diameter which disperses small pepper-like seed in the fall. Frequently Christmas tree ornaments are made from the round "cones" by dipping them into various colors of paint.
Leaves are star-shaped, about as broad as they are long, and are borne alternately on the twigs. When crushed, the leaves are mildly fragrant. In the autumn the leaves turn a golden yellow to Burgundy red. The star-shaped leaf makes this tree easy to identify.
The bark is light gray, roughened by corky scales. Older twigs have corky wing-like growths on their bark.
The wood from an old growth tree has a high proportion of reddish heartwood. Lumberman sometimes refer to it as redgum. Few American woods equal sweetgum in beauty of natural grain. On the the hardwood lumber markets, it is second only to the oaks for volume produced. It is used for veneer, furniture, doors, interior trim, pulpwood and many other uses. Storax, used in tobacco curing, is derived from the sap or gum which is collected in parts of the South.
Sweetgum is native only in southeast Missouri, usually growing on overflow lands. Frequently it grows in pure even-aged stands. The largest sweet gum on record in Missouri is 112 feet high and 16 feet in circumference. It is growing in a pasture near New Madrid. Sweet gum, with its brilliantly colored leaves, rapid growth, and conical crown, makes an excellent ornamental tree.
