500 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



The species in cultivation are : 



1. Liquidambar styraci/lua, Linnaeus. North America. 



Shoots glabrous. Leaves large, usually five-lobed, only occasionally lobulate in 

 margin ; under surface glabrous, except for dense tufts of pubescence in the axils of 

 the main nerves at the base, and occasional minute tufts at the junctions of the lateral 

 and main nerves. 



2. Liquidambar orientalis, Miller. Asia Minor. 



Shoots glabrous. Leaves small, five-lobed, margin with large lobules ; under 

 surface quite glabrous. 



3. Liquidambar formosana, Hance. China, Formosa, Tonking. 



Shoots pilose. Leaves large, usually three-lobed ; under surface pilose, without 

 conspicuous axil-tufts. 



LIQUIDAMBAR STYRACIFLUA, Sweet Gum 



Liquidambar styraciflua, LintiEeus, Sp. PI. 999 (1753); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iv. 2049 

 (1838); Oliver, in Hooker, Icon. Plant, xi. 13 (1867); Sargent, Silva N. Amer. v. 10. t. 199 

 (1893), and Trees N. Amer. 340 (1905). 



Liquidambar macrophylla. Oersted, Am. Cent. xvi. t. 10 (1863). 



A tree, attaining in America 160 feet in height and 17 feet in girth. Bark 

 deeply and longitudinally fissured, with broad ridges covered by thick corky scales. 



Young shoots green, glabrous. Leaves (Plate 199, Fig. 7) large, averaging 

 6 inches broad and 5 inches long, variable in form, cordate or almost truncate at 

 the base, five-nerved, palmately and deeply cut into five oblong-triangular acuminate 

 lobes, the terminal lobe largest, the basal lobes smallest, rarely lobulate ; serrations 

 shallow, non-ciliate ; upper surface dark green, shining, glabrous ; lower surface light 

 green, shining, glabrous except for dense tufts of pubescence in the axils of the 

 nerves at the base and occasional minute tufts at the junctions of the lateral and 

 main nerves. Petiole glabrous, slightly grooved on its upper side, dilated at the 

 base, near which are two scars indicating where the lanceolate stipules have fallen 

 off in early summer. 



Fruiting heads, about i^ inch in diameter, hanging on the tree during winter 

 after the fall of the seeds in autumn, calyx margins with irregular small tubercules ; 

 capsules with two stout style appendages, forming woody spines, one terminating 

 each valve. Perfect seeds few, with short terminal wing ; imperfect seeds numerous, 

 minute, angled, without wings. 



The branchlets * of many trees of this species are remarkable for their corky 

 wings, which begin to develop in the second season and increase in width and 

 thickness for many years. These wings occur on lateral branches, on the upper 

 side only, in three or four parallel ranks ; but on vertical branches they are borne 

 irregularly on all sides. Trelease ^ observed in the case of Liquidambar trees 



Se Miss Gregory in Botanical Gazette, xiii. 282 (1888). 2 Carden and Forest, 1890, p. 195. 



