Formosa Sweet Gum

Basic Information
Tree ID: 
99
Family: 
Genus and species: 
Description: 
The Formosa Sweet Gum tree is a deciduous tree native to Asia and North America. At full growth, it can reach up to 40 meters tall. This eudicot grows mostly in woodland areas in warm temperate zones. It is known for its beautiful red and yellow color and grows best in moist soils. Interestingly, the Sweetgum tree has many medicinal applications. Its sap has been known to treat illnesses including coughs and ulcers and has also been used in the production of the Tamiflu drug that fights various forms of influenza.
Surveyors: 
Bebe Thompson and Julie Berenblum
Location
Collected Data
Date of tree entry: 
02/06/2019
Height: 
2.70 m
2.75 m
Diameter at breast height: 
0.08 m

0.09 m

Bark
Our tree is very young, so the bark maintains a consistent color and texture from top to bottom. The bark of the Sweet Gum is smooth, with tiny protruding bumps that provide texture. A full-grown Formosa Sweet Gum has more textured and rough bark, as evidenced by internet photos. When the outer bark of the tree has been damaged, the Formosa Sweet Gum tree exudes styrax. This resin contains many medicinal properties; it is used to treat skin problems, coughs, and ulcers. Recently, the sap has been used as an antimicrobial agent against Staphylococcus aureus, a methicillin-resistant bacteria. Sap extract also has anti-fungal properties. It has been effective in reducing nematodes and yellow mosquito populations, touting its use as a pesticide as well. Compounds found in the sap have been used to treat hypertension in mice.
Twigs & branches
The twigs branch outwards from the bark and protrude from alternating sides. Since our tree is so young, the bark of the twigs and branches resemble that of the largest part of the tree. The twigs grow mostly upright and are quite resistant to breaking.
Foilage
The foliage of the Formosa Sweet Gum tree are red and yellow in the fall season, but are a green color in the spring and summer. These leaves are known to be the food for silkworms in many parts of Asia. The leaves found on this tree typically have 3 to 5 lobes and the middle lobe is a triangle. The star-shaped leaves take an alternate arrangement.
Reproductive Structures
The flowers on the Sweet gum tree are unisexual (monoecious) and either male or female. The male flowers are long and in spiral form (known as catkins) whereas the female flowers are dense and spherical. These female flowers are frequently seen on the ground in a dark brown color that has prickly outsides surrounding a ball (known as gum balls). The burr pointy structures are the styles of the flower. This tree, and other Liquidambar species, are pollinated by the wind.
Fruit
The fruit of this tree is produced in large numbers. It is often seen on the ground in a dark brown color and looks like a gum ball with pointy protrusions. It is a cluster of 2 parted capsules. These fruits often get stuck in our shoes because they are all over the place! Their seeds are blown around by the wind for dispersal.
Research
Natural range of distribution: 
Habitat: 
The Formosa Sweet Gum grows in many southern to temperate woodland regions of the United States. It requires consistently moist soils with an acidic pH no higher than 7.5 as chlorosis (reduction or loss of the normal green coloration of leaves of plants) can occur. The Sweet Gum grows very well in moist clay soil, specifically. It makes sense to find the Formosa Sweet Gum in the moist regions of Washington and California, as well as Texas and Florida. Fun fact: the current champion for largest Formosa Sweet Gum found in continental United States is a North Carolinan tree at 136 feet tall with a 4-foot diameter.
Origin, history, and uses: 

The Liquidambar formosana is native to Southern China and Taiwan, but grows abundantly in the United States as well. Its name is derived from the Republic of Formosa, which was established on the island of Taiwan in 1895. In modern times, the Formosa Sweetgum is popularly used as a ornamental street and park tree. Its round, spiky fruits are known to litter urban streets and stick to clothing or shoes. 

The earliest popular name for Liquidambar formosana, sweet gum, is said to originate from the local use of chewing the sweet-flavored gum obtained from the resin of the tree. 

Ancestors of the Liquidambar formosana can be found in fossil records frrom the upper Eocene in Greenland, Alaska, and Oregon. In the next period of earth history, the Oligocene, evidence of sweetgum was located in Italy, but no records in North America and Asia have been confirmed. Nine species of Liquidambar have been recorded from Miocene rocks, which closely resemble modern tree forms. The fossils of these nine species are spread out across Japan, southwest Russia, all over Europe, and in Oregon and Colorado. In sum, the fossil record of sweet gum covers several millions of years and spans the geography of all the continents in the northern hemisphere.  

The Liquidambar formosana has many medicinal uses and purposes. Its sap, known as styrax, has been known to treat illnesses including coughs and ulcers and has also been used in the production of the Tamiflu drug that fights various forms of influenza. The styrax is a resin that is exuded from the bark in response to injury. When cut or bruised, a series of canals forms near the area, in which specialized cells develop that release the resin. This resin contains many medicinal properties; it is used to treat skin problems, coughs, and ulcers. Recently, the sap has been used as an antimicrobial agent against Staphylococcus aureus, a methicillin-resistant bacteria. Sap extract also has anti-fungal properties. It has been effective in reducing nematodes and yellow mosquito populations, touting its use as a pesticide as well. Compounds found in the sap have been used to treat hypertension in mice. Native American tribes, such as the Cherokee and Chocktaw, chewed the hardest resin as gum. 

Phenology: 
The Formosa Sweet Gum drops its colorful red and orange leaves in the fall, as well as dried fruits. Seeds emerge after the fruiting bodies mature, which usually occurs in autumn in the months of September through November. The tree lies dormant in the winter. Flowers bloom in the spring after dormancy, which produce the characteristic spiky fruits. Fertilization occurs in late spring, and the seeds on the fruit are scattered by wind dispersion in the autumn months of September through November.
References: 

Adams, Jp, et al. “Sweetgum: a New Look.” IForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, vol. 8, no. 6, 2015, pp. 719–727., doi:10.3832/ifor1462-008.

Berry, E. (1919). The Geologial History of the Sweet Gum and Witch Hazel.The Plant World, 22(12), 345-354. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43477804.

Buteaux, Chris. “Chinese Sweet Gum or Liquidambar Formosana.” Jungle Gardens, Jungle Gardens, 10 Apr. 2018, www.junglegardens.org/blog-posts/2018/12/3/chinese-sweet-gum-or-liquidam….

Fordham, Alfred j. “Liquidambar.” Arnoldia, 23 June 1961, arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1570.pdf.

“Formosa Sweetgum.” A Tree a Day, www.atreeaday.com/atreeaday/Welcome.html.

Gliman, Edward F, and Dennis G Watson. “Liquidambar Formosana Formosa Sweetgum.” Environmental Horticulture Department, Fact Sheet ST-357, Nov. 1993, hort.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/tree_fact_sheets/liqfora.pdf.

Lingbeck, Jody M, et al. “Sweetgum: An Ancient Source of Beneficial Compounds with Modern Benefits.” Pharmacognosy Reviews, Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd, 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26009686.

“Liquidambar Formosana.” Missouri Botanical Garden, www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=281027.

Paratley, Rob. “Economic Botany & Cultural History: Sweetgum.” Economic Botany & Cultural History: Sweetgum | Urban Forest Initiative, Agriculture, Food and Environment, ufi.ca.uky.edu/treetalk/ecobot-sweetgum.

 
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Other information of interest: 
Media and Arts

The Shapes of Leaves by Arthur Sze - 1950

Ginkgo, cottonwood, pin oak, sweet gum, tulip tree:

our emotions resemble leaves and alive

to their shapes we are nourished.

Have you felt the expanse and contours of grief

along the edges of a big Norway maple?

Have you winced at the orange flare

searing the curves of a curling dogwood?

I have seen from the air logged islands,

each with a network of branching gravel roads,

and felt a moment of pure anger, aspen gold.

I have seen sandhill cranes moving in an open field,

a single white whooping crane in the flock.

And I have traveled along the contours

of leaves that have no name. Here

where the air is wet and the light is cool, 

I feel what others are thinking and do not speak,

I know pleasure in the veins of a sugar maple,

I am living at the edge of a new leaf.