View source for Sweetgum

{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Sweetgum
| image = Fall sweetgum leaves 0197.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| image_caption = American Sweetgum leaves with November fall color in South Carolina
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Saxifragales]]
| familia = [[Altingiaceae]]
| genus = '''''Liquidambar'''''
| genus_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus|L.]]
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = See text
}}

'''Sweetgum''' (''Liquidambar'') is a genus of four species of [[flowering plant]]s in the family [[Altingiaceae]], though formerly often treated in the [[Hamamelidaceae]]. They are all large, [[deciduous]] [[tree]]s, 25-40 m tall, with [[leaf shape|palmate]]ly lobed [[leaf|leaves]] arranged spirally on the stems. The [[flower]]s are small, produced in a dense globular [[inflorescence]] 1-2 cm diameter, pendulous on a 3-7 cm stem. The [[fruit]] is a woody multiple [[capsule (fruit)|capsule]] 2-4 cm diameter (popularly called a "gumball"), containing numerous [[seed]]s.

;Species
*''[[Liquidambar acalycina]]'' - Chang's Sweetgum (central & southern [[China]])
*''[[Liquidambar formosana]]'' - [[Chinese Sweetgum]] (central & southern [[China]], southern [[Korea]], [[Taiwan]], [[Laos]], northern [[Vietnam]]).
*''[[Liquidambar orientalis]]'' - [[Oriental Sweetgum]] or [[Turkish Sweetgum]] (southwest [[Turkey]], [[Greece]]: [[Rhodes]]).
*''[[Liquidambar styraciflua]]'' - American Sweetgum (eastern [[North America]] from [[New York (state)|New York]] to [[Texas]] and also eastern [[Mexico]] to [[Guatemala]]).

The genus was much more widespread in the [[Tertiary]], but has disappeared from [[Europe]] due to extensive [[glaciation]] in the north and the [[Alps]], which has served as a blockade against southward migration. It has also disappeared from western [[North America]] due to climate change, and also from the unglaciated (but nowadays too cold) [[Russian Far East]]. There are several [[fossil]] species of ''Liquidambar'', showing its [[relict]] status today.

===Uses===
The wood is used for furniture, interior finish, paper pulp, veneers and baskets of all kinds. The heartwood once was in furniture, sometimes as imitation mahogany or circassian walnut. It is used widely today in flake and strand boards. Sweetgum is a foodplant for various [[Lepidoptera]] [[caterpillar]]s, such as the [[gypsy moth]].

==References and external links==
* Hsu, E. & Andews, S. (2005). Tree of the year: Liquidambar. ''International Dendrology Society Yearbook'' 2004: 11-45.
* Deterministic Plio-Pleistocene extinctions in the European cool-temperate tree flora. ''Ecology Letters'' 6 (7): 646-653. July 2003. 
*[http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/feature_pro.html?id=c373e90a275ac1578f6a17245d830100 Possible link between sweetgum fruit and fighting avian flu] Highlights of American Chemical Society meeting in Atlanta, American Chemical Society, March 2006.
*[http://www.wildwnc.org/trees/Liquidambar_styraciflua.html Trees of Western North Carolina - Sweetgum]

[[Category:Saxifragales]]