Tree of the week

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Good morning. As is the custom here, the first post of the weekend is reserved for one of the best ways to beautify a home and increase its value: plant a tree. The tree-loving Pieter Severynen celebrates a different tree every week:

American Sweet Gum – Liquidambar styraciflua

In the rich bottomlands of its native Southeastern U.S., the liquidambar easily grows into a towering 80-120’+ tall tree with a 3-4’ wide trunk. While it is a valuable commercial hardwood there for veneer production, here we enjoy this deciduous tree for its straight silvery, fissured trunk, the long stemmed, 3-7”, 5-7 lobed palmate leaves reminiscent of maple leaves that make light sparkle, the beautiful fall colors, the odd squarish corky outgrowths (‘wings’) on its branchlets, the hard spiky seedpods that look like little medieval maces, and the strong resin smell produced when a leaf is crushed. (I usually crush and smell a leaf of plants I meet; it is a good aid in identification).

The tree’s names refer to this resinous quality: styraciflua means flowing with styrax or storax, a fragrant resin, although strictly speaking the true storax used in the perfume industry comes from the related Liquidambar orientale.

In southern California the American sweet gum starts out narrow and erect, eventually widens to 25’ while growing moderately fast to a beautiful 60’ tall pyramid. The branches tend to grow in narrow crotches and compete with the main trunk; wood can be brittle; some judicious pruning in youth will prevent future branch drop. The tree likes lots of room; roots often grow on the surface, especially in lawns. Many cities found out that trees planted in narrow parkways don’t respect curbs or paving. Seed pods (‘gum balls’) dropped on the ground can be a nuisance. But all faults are forgotten during the few weeks in fall when the tree defies our warm weather and shows off its spectacular autumn colors. Of the many named varieties ‘Aurora’ and ‘Festival’ are multicolored, ‘Burgundy’, ‘Cherokee’ and ‘Palo Alto’ are burgundy, purple, or orange red.

Thanks, Pieter
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Photo credit: Geocities.com