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Big City, Big Trees
2. Native Flora Garden
Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
| Native Habitat: | North America |
Watercolor: Gina Ingoglia. Courtesy BBG Florilegium Society.
The yellow-brown resin of the sweet gum was once prized as "liquid amber," a salubrious addition to smoking tobacco. Cherokees used the resin more like "sweet gum"—they chomped it as a chewing gum. On the East Coast, sweet gum trees usually reach 60 to 70 feet in height, but in the swamps of the South, they grow up to 140 feet high. This specimen was planted 95 years ago.
Notable Neighbors:
- 2A. Sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
- 2B. Black tupelo, sour gum (Nyssa sylvatica)
- 2C. Common persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)
- 2D. English oak (Quercus robur)
- 2E. Dove tree, handkerchief tree (Davidia involucrata)
- 2F. Carolina or Canadian poplar (Populus x canadensis)