Sweet Gum Tree

Sweetgum wood is used to make veneer, plywood, cabinets and furniture. The gum from these trees has been used as chewing gum and even employed to concoct medicines and salves to cure a variety of ailments, treat wounds and serve as an important ingredient in adhesives.

Why is it called a sweet gum tree?

The name sweetgum comes from the Native Americans who would peel back the bark, scrape off the resin, and chew the resin as one would chew gum. Phenology: From late March to early April, the flowers, fruits and leaves emerge.

Where do sweet gum trees grow best?

Sweetgum grows from Connecticut southward throughout the East to central Florida and eastern Texas. It is found as far west as Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma and north to southern Illinois. It also grows in scattered locations in northwestern and central Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

What is the lifespan of a sweet gum tree?

Sweet Gum trees are large deciduous trees with beautiful ovular/oval shape. They are long lived, with ages reaching 100-150 years old. Once a tree reaches 20-30 years in age it will start producing seed pods.

Are Sweetgum trees worth anything?

Despite the difficulties in their taxonomy, sweet gum trees are in fact widely distributed and well known, due to their varied uses by people. They are valued for their high quality timber and they produce fragrant resin (styrax).

Why do people plant sweet gum trees?

Many of the medicinal properties of sweetgum are derived from the resinous sap that exudes when the outer bark of the tree has been damaged. The sap, known as storax, has been used for centuries to treat common ailments such as skin problems, coughs, and ulcers.

Can you eat the fruit of a sweetgum tree?

Are sweetgum tree balls edible? While they're not edible, the balls can double as spiky mulch to keep animals away from young plants. You can even get creative and use them to make holiday trinkets or decorative balls for bowls.

Are sweet gum tree balls good for anything?

The tree itself is a hardwood making it popular for fine furniture. The Sweetgum Tree balls are also used in a variety of crafting projects, from wreaths to other ornamental decorations, much like pine cones.

Are sweet gum balls good for anything?

They can be used as mulch as well as a defense for plants. Many northeastern Oklahomans are bewildered to find their lawns covered by sweet gum balls - those spiked seed balls that are fired like golf balls when you try to mow them.

Are sweet gum tree roots invasive?

Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) Sweet gum roots are highly invasive, often growing near the soil surface and damaging sidewalks, pavements, and other infrastructure. The species also produces prolific hard, round fruits that litter the ground and are often a tripping hazard.

Are Sweetgum trees messy?

Many people think the sweetgum tree is quite beautiful, especially in the fall. It's found in many parts of the US, including the Northeast. However, the sweetgum tree is exceptionally messy. The tree's annoying seed pods are round, hard, and spikey, making them difficult to clean up.

How quickly do sweet gum trees grow?

Growth Rate This tree grows at a medium to fast rate, with height increases of anywhere from 13" to more than 24" per year.

Should I cut down sweet gum tree?

Sweet gum trees become overbearing when their extensive root systems bulge from the ground and interfere with more favorable plants or home foundations. When this happens, homeowners choose to cut them down to avoid further damage.

Are sweet gum trees deep rooted?

Some communities have large numbers of Sweetgum planted as street trees. Much of the root system is shallow (particularly in its native, moist habitat), but there are deep vertical roots directly beneath the trunk in well-drained and in some other soils.

Are sweet gum trees good for wildlife?

8 | Sweetgum Tree The sticky substance produced by the tree trunk is often loathed by people and the tree holds little value for wildlife — especially deer. Some birds will eat the seeds, but that aside, it's pretty much useless.

Can I burn sweet gum balls?

In fact, sweet gum will produce approximately 20.6 million BTU's per cord which isn't all that bad. The major concern with the wood is the amount of work and energy it takes to split it into usable sizes. Sweet gum firewood is hard to split... really hard.

Is sweetgum a good street tree?

Liquidambar styraciflua, Sweetgum has been used as a street / urban tree for a number of years. It has dark green foliage that can turn yellow, orange, and red in the fall. The seed pods can sometimes be a problem. There are several really good cultivars.

What will pick up sweet gum balls?

Bag-A-Nut has your sweet gum ball removal solution! Don't cut down your sweet gum trees or spend a ton of money on a lawn vacuum. The Stab-A-Nut harvester allows you to pick up your sweet gum balls without having to bend over.

Is sweet gum a hardwood or softwood?

Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) is one of the most important commercial hardwoods in the Southeastern United States. Its wood is bright reddish brown (with the sapwood nearly white) and may have black grain in the heartwood; it is heavy, straight, satiny, and close-grained, but not strong.

Is there a difference between a gum tree and a sweet gum tree?

Black Tupelo or Nyssa sylvatica is the most common true gum in North America and grows from Canada to Texas. Another common tree that is called a "gum" is sweetgum and is actually an entirely different tree species classification called Liquidambar. The fruit and leaves of sweetgum look nothing like these true gums.