87 
autumn ; even with all the sun possible, 
in a wet season the leaves turn only a 
dull purple, a shady place having the 
same effect. In our climate the finest 
colour is often seen upon the small 
trees growing in lighter soils than those 
necessary to its finest development, and 
in this matter it has to be something 
of a compromise between rapid and 
luxuriant growth and fine colour, the 
large trees found in damp places rarely 
giving the vivid tones of crimson and 
orange seen in stunted trees upon drier 
ground. The leaves hang longer than 
in most cases of rich colour, and, as 
with the Sumachs, quite little trees give 
bright effect. Of dense shade and vivid 
green, its beauty in the deep alluvial 
soils of our river valleys can hardly be 
over-praised. Its star-like leaves, often 
7 or 8 inches across, are almost Maple- 
like in the early stages though the tree 
is easily recognised by its erect-branch- 
ing habit and the queer fin-like ridges 
ofgrey corky bark — often an inch thick 
— upon the branches. The leaves, 
slightly fragrant at all times, give off j 
a pleasant herb-like smell when crushed , 1 
and the bruised bark yields a clear | 
yellow juice hardening as a fragrant 
amber-like gum to which the tree owes 
its names. In notes upon this tree given 
by an old book upon the natural history 
of Carolina this gum is said to have been j 
chewed by the Indians for its good effect | 
upon the teeth ; hence the common ' 
name of Sweet Gum. The large old | 
trees were frequently stripped of their i 
bark — used to roof the native huts — ! 
and the wounded trees yielded quan- i 
tities of juice. Though of fine texture | 
and handsome for wainscots, the timber 
is only good after long seasoning. The 
Liquidambar is not easily increased ex- 
cept by layers or suckers from the root ; 
neither of these being good ways. Im- 
ported seed is often a year or more in 
germinating but the best plants are 
raised in that way. Only one other 
species of Liquidambar is in cultiva- 
tion and that not often seen outside 
collections. It is the Oriental Liquid- 
ambar (Zy. imbei^be)^ a little tree of slow 
growth with a much-branched head of 
rounded outline, more bush-like but 
similar in other respects to the American 
kind. Seldom more than 20 feet high, 
it might often be mistaken for a form 
of the Field Maple when standing alone 
upon a lawn. Its leaves are rather more 
deeply cut and without hairs in the axils 
of the leaf veins ; the tree also is found 
hardier than styraciflua on the main- 
land of Europe. It comes from the 
shores of the Levant, extending thence 
into the mountains, and its hardened 
gumwas formerly esteemed in medicine. 
