SCIENTIFIC NAME: Liquidambar styraciflua

COMMON NAME: sweetgum

LEAVES: Star shaped (5 lobes) with serrate margins and palmate venation. Good red fall color.

FRUIT: Round sticky ball that can be very messy in the landscape.

BARK: Ridge and furrowed and interlaces up the tree.

OTHER: Grows 60' to 90' tall. Stems have corky wings. Hard to transplant. Big, round, pointed fruit. Has an upright and tall growth habit. Requires a lot of maintenance because of root suckers and fruit. A member of the Hamamelidaceae family. The variety rotundiloba does not have fruit. This species has regained some of its former popularity recently. It is one of the street trees being used at Disney's Celebration City in Orlando, FL.