Sweet Gum Tree Bark Identification
In height and 4 ft.
Sweet gum tree bark identification. It grows to 75 feet in height and prefers full sun in zones 5 to 9 which includes all but the very northern and southern parts of the united states. Look for the star shaped leafas foliage grows in the spring and look for the dried seed balls under the tree. Pockets of a white crystalline substance develop with the tissues. The american sweet gum tree liquidambar styraciflua grows in eastern woodlands from southern connecticut to northern illinois to texas to central florida.
The bark becomes deeply ridged at about 25 years old. It is a popular street tree and is prized for its flashy display of fall foliage. The trunk is normally straight and does not divide into double or multiple leaders and side branches are small in diameter on young trees creating a pyramidal form. Botryosphaeria canker botryosphaeria dothidea is a fungal disease of sweet gum trees.
Trees are the backbone of any good landscape plan. Sweet gum a tree of the witch hazel family hamamelidaceae native of the eastern united states also mexico and central america. The deeply cut grey or brownish grey bark forms winged projections on the twigs. Facts on the sweet gum tree.
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. This list includes sycamore yellow poplar and sweetgum trees. Generally attacking weakened or wounded sweet gum trees botryosphaeria kills bark and displays areas of dead tissue referred to as cankers. The trunk of a mature gum tree may be five feet in diameter.
Sweet gum trees may reach heights from 80 to 150 feet and they may spread to 45 feet wide. The leaves of a maple tree are very distinct but that shape does not belong to maple leaves alone a number of broadleaf trees have maple like leaves. The tree looks as if a can of oil has been poured on the bark. Inside the tree the inner bark shows a dark reddish brown stain.
Along the rivers of the south eastern united states sweet gums exceed 125 ft. Infected trees show undernourished foliage the ends of branches may begin to die back.