GENUS CODE: LIQUI GENUS SCIENTIFIC:Liquidambar GENUS AUTHORITY: L. GENUS COMMON: Sweetgum GENUS SUMMARY: A genus of about 15 species, trees, north temperate, of e. North America, Central America (Mexico to Nicaragua), e. Asia (s. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia), and e. Mediterranean (Turkey, Rhodos, Cyprus). The circumscription of Liquidambar here follows Ickert-Bond & Wen (2013) in including Altingia and Semiliquidambar. GENUS IDENTIFICATION: GENUS REFERENCES: Endress in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993); Li & Donoghue (1999).
FAMILY INDEX
FAMILY CODE: ALTING FAMILY SCIENTIFIC:Altingiaceae FAMILY AUTHORITY: Lindley 1846 FAMILY COMMON: Sweet-gum Family FAMILY SUMMARY: A monogeneric family of 1 genus and about 15 species, trees, of e. Asia, Indomalaysia, e. North America, Central America, and e. Mediterranean. FAMILY REFERENCE: Ickert-Bond & Wen (2013); Endress in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993); Hoot, Magall�n, and Crane (1999).
NCBG DESCRIPTIVES
INTRO: STEMS:Pith continuous. Young twigs (1-year-old or less) brown or gray or green or orange or reddish-brown, glabrate or pubescent. Twigs (2–4 years old) glabrous,winged or without special surface features. Leaf scars crescent-shaped or half-round or triangular, bundle scars 3 per leaf scar, stipule scars inconspicuous,stipule scars not circumferential. Bark of mature trunks furrowed or ridged. Buds axillary or collateral or terminal, brown or orange or reddish-brown, 6–12 mm long, conic or ovoid, sharp, glabrous or pubescent,ciliate,budscales imbricate. LEAVES: Leaves deciduous,simple,petiolate,alternate, 7.5–19(–25) cm long, 4.4–18 cm wide, orbiculate or reniform,leaf margins serrate or serrulate, deeply lobed,palmatelylobed,leaf lobes (3–)5–7 per leaf,leaf apices acuminate or acute or rounded,leaf bases cordate or truncate. Leaf upper surface green, glabrous or glabrate. Leaf lower surface green, glabrate or with tufts in vein axils. Leaf venation palmate. Petioles (4.4–)6–10(–16) cm long, glabrous or glabrate. Stipules present, 3–13 mm long, caducous,blade-like, not circumferential. INFLORESCENCE: Inflorescences terminal, heads or racemes, flowers sessile or stalked. FLOWERS: Flowers unisexual or pistillate or staminate, perigynous. Perianth. Calyx radially symmetric, synsepalous. Sepals 4 per flower. Corolla absent. Androecium. Stamens 4–8(–10) per flower, separate, filaments 1 mm long, staminodes present. Gynoecium. Ovaries half-inferior, pistils 1 per flower. Gynoeciumsyncarpous, 2 carpels per flower, styles 2 per pistil, styles 4–8 mm long, stigmas 4–8 mm long, placentation axile. Other floral features. Hypanthia present. FRUITS: Fruits aggregate fruits or capsules, 2.5–4 cm long, brown, fruit maturation 1 years. COMMENTS: Leaves star-shaped; fruit a globosehead of beaked capsules that often persists on the tree through the winter. HEIGHT: (10–)15–35(–45) m tall. DURATION:
Perennial
HABIT:
Tree
LEAF ARRANGEMENT:
Alternate LEAF COMPLEXITY:
Simple LEAF RETENTION:
Deciduous FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS
SYMMETRY:
Radial (Actinomorphic)
BLOOM TIME: February or March or April or May.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
x
x
x
x
x
BLOOM COLOR:
White
Red
Pink
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Lavender
Purple
Violet
Brown
Not Applicable
x
x
FRUITING PERIOD: Aug-Sep. DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT TYPE: Bottomlands, Dry forests, Moist forests
NATIVE RANGE: eastern United States & Guatemala HORTICULTURAL
Plant Sale Text:
This information is derived from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2016 National Wetland Plant List, Version 3.3 (Lichvar, R.W., D.L. Banks, W.N. Kirchner, and N.C. Melvin. 2016. The National Wetland Plant List: 2016 wetland ratings. Phytoneuron 2016-30: 1-17. Published 28 April 2016. ISSN 2153 733X). Regions: AGCP-Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain, AK-Alaska, AW-Arid West, CB-Caribbean, EMP-Eastern Mountains and Piedmont, GP-Great Plains, HI-Hawaii, MW-Midwest, NCNE-Northcentral and Northeast, WMCV-Western Mountains, Valleys & Coast
WEAKLEY FLORA
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Liquidambar styraciflua
COMMON NAME: Sweet Gum, Red Gum
SYNONYMY: [= C, F, FNA, G, GW, K, Mo, Pa, RAB, S, Va, W, WH3, WV]
PHENOLOGY: Apr-May; Aug-Sep.
HABITAT: Swamp forests, floodplains, moist forests, depressional wetlands, old fields, disturbed areas.
COMMENTS: CT west to s. OH, s. IL and OK, south to s. FL, TX, and Guatemala. One of the most spectacular of our trees in the fall; a single tree often has a mixture of green, yellow, orange, dark red, bronze, and purple leaves. The sap was previously gathered as a source of chewing gum. The bark is one of the favorite foods of beavers. Although sometimes thought of as a small and weedy tree,Liquidambar reaches its greatest abundance and size in Coastal Plain swamp forests, where it can reach 2 meters in diameter. Along with such species as Pinus taeda, Quercus phellos, and others, Liquidambar is a good example of a primarily bottomland tree which has proven to be an excellent colonizer of disturbed uplands.
RANGE MAP: Liquidambar styraciflua.png
Key to Map SymbolsABOUT FAMILY (Weakley Flora) Altingiaceae Lindley 1846 (Sweet-gum Family) SUMMARY: A monogeneric family of 1 genus and about 15 species, trees, of e. Asia, Indomalaysia, e. North America, Central America, and e. Mediterranean. REFERENCE: Ickert-Bond & Wen (2013); Endress in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993); Hoot, Magall�n, and Crane (1999). ABOUT GENUS (Weakley Flora) Liquidambar L. (Sweetgum) SUMMARY: A genus of about 15 species, trees, north temperate, of e. North America, Central America (Mexico to Nicaragua), e. Asia (s. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia), and e. Mediterranean (Turkey, Rhodos, Cyprus). The circumscription of Liquidambar here follows Ickert-Bond & Wen (2013) in including Altingia and Semiliquidambar. REFERENCE: Endress in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993); Li & Donoghue (1999).
HERBARIUM RESOURCES
SERNEC: Find Liquidambar styraciflua in Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available) UNC SERNEC: Find Liquidambar styraciflua in
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Herbarium - Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)