Sweet gum tree

It is recognizable by the combination of its five-pointed star-shaped leaves and its har spiked fruits. Trees are the backbone of any good landscape plan. Trees vary in height, the shape of their canopies, type of foliage, fall color, flowers or fruit as well as other. Often, newly planted trees will scarcely grow at all for the first two or three years.

Although this tree normally grows on rich, moist soils in the wil it has proven itself quite adaptable in culture.

In fact, it is one of the most pH-tolerant of all trees, thriving equally well in acid. Several species are grown as ornamental trees for their showy fall foliage. Once commercially popular. You painfully find them with your feet.

Perhaps it is time for some rehabilitation. The American sweet gum is a popular tree in the St. Every subdivision from Florissant to Kirkwood to Maryland Heights has several of them.

While the trees were popular for builders and municipalities to plant due to their medium to fast rate of growth and beautiful color, they have become an annoyance for many homeowners.

This means that only one tree is needed for the flowers to be pollinate and a single tree can produce the spiky fruits even when another sweet gum tree is not in sight. A notable exception is Rotundiloba (Liquidambar styraciflua Rotundiloba, USDA zones through 9), which is a sterile female cultivar that does not produce fruits. If you have more than one sweet gum tree , each one must be.

It can be an excellent shade tree in the right location, away from foot traffic where the spiky gumball fruits will not be an annoyance. Their fall color lasts much longer than most other trees. The downside to growing a sweetgum tree is the seed pods.

Children call them gumballs or stickerballs, and it’s rare to find a child with a sweetgum. Full size each sweetgum tree picture you like, just click on the sweetgum image to get the sweetgum photo to enlarge. The sweet gum grows in a long list of states, thinning to a more patchy distribution as it spreads southward into Mexico and Central America. For a New World tree , it is interesting to note its. This list includes sycamore, yellow-poplar, and sweetgum trees.

Like the maple tree , these species have leaves whose ribs or veins radiate out from a single stalk or petiole attachment in a palmate pattern (that is, the lobes resemble a set of fingers). Some people refer to these leaves as having a star form or a maple-like silhouette. Sweetgum Tree Pictures. The unisexual flowers bloom from March to April. The fruits ripen in November to December and the seeds are wind dispersed.

The tree is very attractive and especially valued for its colourful autumn leaves.

Gardening enthusiasts would be glad to welcome and beseech the fantastic. The range of the sweet gum in the United States is. Due to the shikmic acid it contains, at. The trunk of a mature gum tree may be five feet in diameter.

Gum trees can grow in moderately moist soil conditions, but they prefer wet bottomland.