Liquidambar, commonly called sweetgum (star gum in the UK), gum, Mature bark is grayish and vertically grooved. The genus was much more widespread in the Tertiary, but has disappeared from Europe due to extensive glaciation in the north and the east–west oriented Alps 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 or Circassian walnut. It is used widely today in flake and strand boards. Sweetgum is a foodplant for various caterpillars. 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), can be chewed on like chewing gum and has been long used for this purpose in the Southern United States.

In Traditional Chinese medicine, lu lu tong, or "all roads open," is the hard, spiky fruit of native sweetgum species. It first appeared in Chinese 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 sweetgum trees.

In Louisiana folklore, a sharpened stick from this tree can be used to wound a cryptid known as the Parlangua (a hybrid of man and alligator).

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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

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Notes

References

  • Liquidambar styraciflua: Sweetgum at University of Florida IFAS Extension