346 TREES IN" WINTER 



SWEET GUM 

 Bilsted, Red Gum, Alligator-wood, Liquidambar. 



— Liquidambar Styraciflua L. 



HABIT — A tree 40-60 ft. in height with a trunk diameter up to 2 ft., 

 reaching- 150 ft. in height and a trunk diameter af 3-5 ft. in the Missis- 

 sippi and Ohio valleys; branches slender, regular and spreading, form- 

 ing a very symmetrical tree, when young (right hand tree in plate) 

 narrowly oblong-conical, with age (left hand tree in plate) becoming 

 broader and rounded ovate, generally showing persistent stalked 

 spherical fruits. 



BARK — Grayish brown, deeply furrowed into broad more or less 

 flaky ridges. 



TWIGS — Mediumly stout to slender, light to dark reddish to yellowish- 

 brown, rounded or often somewhat angled, smooth and shiny or seldom 

 slightly hairy; generally developing the second season 3-4 parallel 

 corky ridges on the upper side of horizontal branchlets and on all 

 sides of vertical branchlets (lower twig figure). LENTICELS — scat- 

 tered, dark. PITH — wide, more or less 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



LiEAP-SCARS — Alternate, more than 2-ranked, broadly crescent-shaped 

 to inversely triangTn?rr* raised. STIPULE-SCARS — absent. BUNDLE- 

 SCARS— 3, each a circular white ring with dark center conspicuous 

 against the dark surface of leaf-scar. 



BUDS — Ovate to conical, pointed, shiny, reddish-brown, more or less 

 fragrant when crushed, lateral buds divergent, on rapidly grown shoots 

 sometimes stalked or developing into branches the first season and 

 then frequently with a pair of collateral accessory buds at a node; 

 terminal buds exceeding the laterals, 5-10 mm. long. BUD-SCALES — 

 ovate, fine-downy on the margins, rounded on the back, generally with 

 a short abrupt point at the apex. 



FRVIT — A long-stalked spherical spiny aggregate of ovaries, 2-4 cm. 

 in diameter hanging on the tree through the winter; the mature seeds 

 falling in autumn leaving many minute abortive seeds in the ovaries. 



C03IPARIS0IVS — The corky ridges on the twigs of the Sweet Gum are 

 striking distinctive characters which are found also in the Cork Elm 

 and the Bur Oak. The Elm, however, has 2-ranked leaf-scars and 

 the buds of the Oak are bunched at the twig ends; neither are shiny 

 reddish-brown between the ridges. The corky ridges may be but 

 sparingly developed upon some trees and may even fail entirely. The 

 spiny fruits which persist through winter form the best single dis- 

 tinctive character. 



DISTRIBUTION — Low, wet soils, swamps, moist woods, somewhat 

 cultivated as an ornamental tree. Connecticut; south to Florida; west 

 to Missouri and Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Growing native only in Connecticut, south Nor- 

 walk and occasional or frequent westward near the shores of the 

 Sound. 



AVOOD — Heavy, hard, straight, close-grained, not strong, bright brown 

 tinged with red, with thin almost white sapwood of 60-70 layers of 

 annual growth, inclined to warp and shrink badly; used for the outside 

 finish of houses, in cabinet making, for street pavement, wooden dishes 

 and fruit boxes. The resinous exudation from the stems (liquidambar), 

 which is more marked in trees grown in the south, is used in the 

 preparation of chewing gum. 



