60. LlQUIDAMBAR STYRACIFLUA SWEET GUM. 23 



with half of them sterile and scale-like, or numerous ; pistils 2, united below, each 

 1-celled and with 1 or several ovules in each cell. Fruit, a 2-beaked, 2-celled, woody 

 capsule, opening at the summit and with 1 or 2 bony anatropous seeds in each cell, 

 with large straight embryo and scanty albumen; cotyledons broad and flat. 

 Trees and shrubs of about twenty species. 



GENUS LlQUIDAMBAR, L. 



Leaves as described for the order. Flowers mono3cious or polygamous, naked; the 

 sterile in a conical ament, stamens numerous with minute scales intermixed; fila- 

 ments short; the fertile fl's, in globose heads consisting of many 2-celled, 2-beaked, 

 long styled ovaries, subtended by minute scales which represent the calyx, all coher- 

 ing, styles stigmatic down the inner side ; ovules numerous but only one or two per- 

 fecting; heads nodding, racemed and while in bud enclosed by a 4-leaved deciduous 

 involucre. Fruit, a hardened spherical head, bristling with the two-peaked capsules 

 which open (between the peaks) at maturity to liberate the 1 or 2 wing-angled per- 

 fect seeds from each cell, and numerous undeveloped seeds. 



Trees with fragrant leaves and exuding a fragrant balsamic juice. (Name from 

 Latin liquidus, fluid, and Arabic ambar, amber, in allusion to the exudation.) 



60. LlQUIDAMBAR STYRACIFLUA, L. 



SWEET GUM, BILSTED, RED GUM. 



Ger., Storaxbaum ; Fr., Cop aim ; Sp., Liquidambar. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves palmate, nearly orbicular in outline, with 5-7 

 acuminate, glandular-serrate lobes, villous pubescent at base of veins, otherwise 

 smooth and shining. Flowers (April-May) su\d fruit as described for the genus. 



(Styraciflua is from the Latin styrax, a resinous gum, and fluo, to flow, alluding to 

 the exudation of the tree.) 



One of the most beautiful trees of our American forests, with tall 

 straight trunk clothed in a soft grayish-brown bark rough with narrow 

 longitudinal ridges, and usually a pyramidal top with short branches. 

 A striking feature is its star-shaped leaves, and often its twigs are fur- 

 nished with deep corky flanges, though many individual trees lack this 

 character. It sometimes considerably surpasses 100 ft. (30 m.) in height 

 and is 4 or 5 ft. (1.50 m.) in diameter of trunk. 



In autumn the foliage of the Sweet Gum, which has hitherto been of 

 a rich green color, turns to a brilliant scarlet, the splendor of which is 

 scarcely surpassed by any of our trees. The tree exudes when bruised 

 a yellowish, transparent juice of about the consistence of honey, of agree- 

 able balsamic odor and warm acrid flavor. This product is most abun- 

 dant in the warmer climates. 



HABITAT. It ranges throughout eastern United States from south- 

 ern Connecticut southward to Florida, westward to Texas, and into 

 Mexico. It is especially well developed in the Gulf States and along the 

 Mississippi basin, preferring wet soil and especially the swampy river 

 banks which are frequently inundated. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood rather heavy and soft, close-grained, 

 tough and taking a satiny polish, with irregular heart of various shades 



