Tree of the week

Good morning. As is the custom here, the first post of the weekend is reserved for one of the best ways to beautify a home and increase its value: plant a tree. The tree-loving Pieter Severynen celebrates a different tree every week:

American Sweet Gum – Liquidambar styraciflua

In the rich bottomlands of its native Southeastern U.S., the liquidambar easily grows into a towering 80-120’+ tall tree with a 3-4’ wide trunk. While it is a valuable commercial hardwood there for veneer production, here we enjoy this deciduous tree for its straight silvery, fissured trunk, the long stemmed, 3-7”, 5-7 lobed palmate leaves reminiscent of maple leaves that make light sparkle, the beautiful fall colors, the odd squarish corky outgrowths (‘wings’) on its branchlets, the hard spiky seedpods that look like little medieval maces, and the strong resin smell produced when a leaf is crushed. (I usually crush and smell a leaf of plants I meet; it is a good aid in identification).

The tree’s names refer to this resinous quality: styraciflua means flowing with styrax or storax, a fragrant resin, although strictly speaking the true storax used in the perfume industry comes from the related Liquidambar orientale.

In southern California the American sweet gum starts out narrow and erect, eventually widens to 25’ while growing moderately fast to a beautiful 60’ tall pyramid. The branches tend to grow in narrow crotches and compete with the main trunk; wood can be brittle; some judicious pruning in youth will prevent future branch drop. The tree likes lots of room; roots often grow on the surface, especially in lawns. Many cities found out that trees planted in narrow parkways don’t respect curbs or paving. Seed pods ("gum balls") dropped on the ground can be a nuisance. But all faults are forgotten during the few weeks in fall when the tree defies our warm weather and shows off its spectacular autumn colors. Of the many named varieties "Aurora" and "Festival" are multicolored, "Burgundy", "Cherokee" and "Palo Alto" are burgundy, purple, or orange red.

Thanks, Pieter
Thoughts? Comments? Insights? Email story tips to lalandblog@yahoo.com.
Photo credit: Geocities.com

Comments

[arroyogrande]

Pieter,

There was a show a while back on TLC about housing disaters, and one of them involved a couple that owned a house that was being litterally destroyed by the liquidamber's invasive root system...to the point of lifting and cracking the house's foundation and destroying the pool. The tree had been cut down a while before, but the roots kept sending up shoots, and kept growing long after the main tree was gone. The owners were told that they would have to jack up the house, have every trace of the tree's root system destroyed, have a new foundation put in, and have the house lowered back onto the new foundation. The price, if I remember correctly, was $800K. If I can find a direct reference to the show, I'll try to post it.

"Many cities found out that trees planted in narrow parkways don’t respect curbs or paving."

If what they showed on the "Housing Disasters" show was true, you might want to add "foundations, patios, driveways, and swimming pools" to the list.

- arroyogrande

[Inland Empire]

Beautiful tree but one of the home shows had a house that was destroyed by these. Apparently the roots are far reaching and broke the foundation of the house to bits.

[brettdl]

I agree with arroyogrande and Inland Empire, which is where I used to live. We had a Liquid Amber that unfortunately had been planted close to the Southern side of the house. We found roots on ALL other sides of the house when we moved in.

Trimming wayward branches resulted in severe punishment with hundreds of sprouts popping up all over the lawn, even on the other side of the driveway. The buyers of our home were warned to take the tree down before the plumbing and foundation were ground into gravel.

[hb]

Like the previous commenters mentioned, this is a terrible choice for Southern California. The agressive, shallow root system destroys walls, sidewalks, pools, slabs, and foundations. Suckers and seedlings come up everywhere. Step on one of the seed pods barefoot and you'll never forget the pain.

Leave it in the rich bottomlands of the southeast, where it belongs!

[Laura in L.A.]

These trees line the quiet Burbank street of my childhood home, and in the fall, they are spectacular. They create a scene right out of New England, and it makes us feel so "seasonal." I also have fond memories of epic "stickerbomb" fights with the spiny seedpods! Too bad the trees (50-plus years old) are apparently uprooting the neighborhood.

[tarbubble]

a hideous, horrible tree. they cost our association several thousands of dollars in damage, plus the cost of getting them removed. we seem to be lucky, though - i haven't noticed any invasive shoots coming up from the ground. i'll join the chorus and warn anybody off from planting one.