The American Sweetgum, or Liquidambar styraciflua, is November’s Tree of the Month.
As the autumn begins to inexorably slide into winter, there are still a few trees hanging on to their leaves. Perhaps the most striking of these is the glamorous (some might say brash), American Sweetgum. Sweetgums have been planted in ever-increasing numbers in recent years, and are beginning to make quite an impact. They are big trees with palmate (hand-shaped) leaves rather like a maple or a plane, and they come into their own in the autumn when those leaves turn a dramatic range of colours from gold, orange and scarlet through to deep purple.
Why not seek out some Sweetgums for yourself, you can find them all over town.
American Sweetgums could be mistaken for one of the Maple species because they have pointed, five-lobed leaves.
But their seeds are held in balls, unlike the winged 'samara' or helicopters of the Maples.
Sweetgums have great autumn colours which you can see very late into the season and some trees may retain a few leaves right through the winter in mild years.
