Liquidambar styraciflua, L.

Form.—Height 50-100 feet, diameter, 2-4 feet; trunk usually tall and straight with narrow crown, except when grown in the open.

Leaves.—Alternate, simple, 3-5 inches long, irregularly star-shaped, with five unequal pointed lobes, broader than long, margins of lobes serrate, bright shining green above, paler beneath, petioles long and round.

Flowers.—April-May; usually monoecious; the staminate green, borne in terminal racemes; the pistillate in heads on long axillary stalks.

Fruit.—A long-stalked spherical head, 1-1½ inches in diameter, composed of numerous capsules, covered with curved, blunt, spine-like appendages.

Bark.—On old trunks gray with deep furrows and scaly ridges. Corky bark is often present on limbs and twigs.

Wood.—Heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, reddish-brown with whitish sapwood.

Range.—Southern Connecticut to Florida, west to Missouri and Texas.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Found locally along the Great Kanawha, New, Gauley, Elk, Tug Fork, and for short distances up several of the tributaries of these rivers.

Habitat.—Prefers deep rich soils along streams.

Notes.—Sweet Gum cannot be classed as a valuable forest tree in West Virginia, though in other states its wood is extensively used for boxes, interior finish, etc. It is very desirable for planting in parks or on lawns and is especially attractive when the leaves change color in the fall.