''Liquidambar'', commonly called sweetgum
(star gum in the UK),
gum,
[ redgum,][ satin-walnut,][ or American storax,][ is the only genus in the flowering plant family Altingiaceae and has 15 species.] They were formerly often treated in Hamamelidaceae. They are native to Southeast and east Asia, the eastern Mediterranean and eastern North America. They are decorative deciduous trees that are used in the wood industry and for ornamental purposes.
Etymology
Both the scientific and common names refer to the sweet resinous sap
Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant.
Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separ ...
(''liquid amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...
'') exuded by the trunk when cut.
Species
Extant species
Fossils
* †'' Liquidambar changii'' - Miocene (Washington state, North America)
Description
They are all large, deciduous trees, tall, with palmate
The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...
ly 3- to 7-lobed leaves
A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...
arranged spirally on the stems and length of , having a pleasant aroma when crushed. Their leaves can be many colors such as bright red, orange, yellow, and even purple. Mature bark is grayish and vertically grooved. The flowers are small, produced in a dense globular inflorescence diameter, pendulous on a stem. The fruit is a woody multiple capsule in diameter (popularly called a "gumball"), containing numerous seeds and covered in numerous prickly, woody armatures, possibly to attach to fur of animals. The woody biomass is classified as hardwood.
At higher latitudes, Liquidambars are among the last of trees to leaf out in the spring, and also among the last of trees to drop its leaves in the fall/autumn, turning multiple colors. Fall/autumn colors are most brilliant where nights are chilly, but some cultivars color well in warm climates.
Distribution
Species within this genus are native to Southeast and east Asia, western Mediterranean and eastern North America. Countries and regions in which they occur are: Indonesia (Nusa Tenggara
The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up ...
, Jawa, Sumatera
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent is ...
); Malaysia ( Peninsular Malaysia); Thailand; Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...
; Vietnam; China (including Fujian, Guizhou, Hainan, Yunnan, Zhejiang}; Taiwan; Korea; Laos; Myanmar; India (including Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur t ...
); East Himalaya; Tibet; Turkey; Greece ( Rodes); Nicaragua; Honduras; El Salvador; Guatemala; Belize; Mexico; and eastern USA (from Texas to Connecticut). It is regarded as introduced/naturalised in Italy, Spain, Belgium and New York, USA. In cultivation they can be seen in warm temperate and subtropical climates around the world.
Fossil records
This genus is known in the fossil record from the Cretaceous to the Quaternary (age range: 99.7 to 0.781 million years ago). The genus was much more widespread in the Tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
, but has disappeared from Europe due to extensive glaciation
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...
in the north and the east–west oriented Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
and Pyrenees, which have served as a blockade against southward migration. It has also disappeared from western North America due to climate change, and also from the unglaciated (but nowadays too cold) Russian Far East. There are several fossil species of ''Liquidambar'', showing its relict status today.
Uses
The wood is used for furniture, interior finish, paper pulp, veneers and baskets of all kinds. The heartwood once was used in furniture, sometimes as imitation mahogany
Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Univ ...
or Circassian walnut
''Juglans regia'', the Persian walnut, English walnut, Carpathian walnut, Madeira walnut, or especially in Great Britain, common walnut, is an Old World walnut tree species native to the region stretching from the Balkans eastward to the Himala ...
. It is used widely today in flake and strand boards. Sweetgum is a foodplant for various Lepidoptera caterpillar
Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths).
As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Symph ...
s, such as the gypsy moth
''Lymantria dispar'', also known as the gypsy moth or the spongy moth, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. ''Lymantria dispar'' is subdivided into several subspecies, with subspecies such as ''L. d. dispar'' and ''L. d. japonica'' be ...
. The American sweetgum is widely planted as an ornamental, within its natural range and elsewhere.
The hardened sap, or gum resin, excreted from the wounds of the sweetgum, for example, the American sweetgum (''Liquidambar styraciflua
American sweetgum (''Liquidambar styraciflua''), also known as American storax, hazel pine, bilsted, redgum, satin-walnut, star-leaved gum, alligatorwood, or simply sweetgum, is a deciduous tree in the genus ''Liquidambar'' native to warm temper ...
''), can be chewed on like chewing gum and has been long used for this purpose in the Southern United States. The sap was also believed to be a cure for sciatica, weakness of nerves, etc.
In Chinese herbal medicine, ''lu lu tong'', or "all roads open," is the hard, spiky fruit of native sweetgum species. It first appeared in the medical literature in ''Omissions from the Materia Medica,'' by Chen Cangqi, in 720 AD. Bitter in taste, aromatic, and neutral in temperature, ''lu lu tong'' is claimed to promote the movement of blood and qi, water metabolism and urination, expels wind, and unblocks the channels. It is supposedly an ingredient in formulas for epigastric distention or abdominal pain, anemia, irregular or scanty menstruation, low back or knee pain and stiffness, edema with difficult urination, or nasal congestion.
In the fall/autumn, the trees drop their hard, spiky seedpods by the hundreds, which can become a serious nuisance on pavements and lawns. Some US cities have expedited permits to remove liquidambar trees.
Gallery
Image:Liquidambar orientalis arboretum Breuil 2.jpg, Foliage of ''Liquidambar orientalis''
Image:Sweetgum in autumn.JPG, Sweetgum fall foliage and seedpods, Brooklyn, New York
Image:Sweetgum tree seed pods.jpg, Sweetgum seed pods in Michigan during winter
Image:Sweetgum Seed closeup.jpg, Closeup on a sweetgum seed pod
References
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* Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Dev., 1985, 24 (3), pp 836–844
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External links
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University of Florida IFAS Extension – Liquidambar styraciflua: Sweetgum
(accessed: 09 SEP 2018)
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Altingiaceae
Cretaceous genus first appearances
Extant Cretaceous first appearances
Ornamental trees
Saxifragales genera