Liquidambar styraciflua 'NAREE' sweet gum
Liquidambar
The genus Liquidambar includes approximately 15 species of deciduous trees naturally found in the temperate zones of North America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. The best-known species, the American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), originates from the southeastern United States, where it forms part of mixed deciduous forests. The genus was formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, but the first European record of sweetgum dates back to 1615, when Spanish physician and naturalist Francisco Hernández documented it during his expedition to New Spain (Virreinato de Nueva España), a vast colonial territory of the Spanish Empire in North and Central America with its capital in Ciudad de México (present-day Mexico City). He described it as a tall tree with aromatic resin resembling liquid amber – hence the genus name liquidambar. Although fossil evidence confirms the presence of sweetgums in Europe as early as the Tertiary period, today they occur here only as introduced ornamental trees.
Sweetgums are often mistaken for maples by laypeople due to their similarly shaped, deeply lobed, palmate leaves, most commonly with five tips. What you definitely won’t confuse, however, is their scent when crushed – thanks to the tree’s signature aromatic resin, which is not only fragrant but also slightly sweet. Indigenous peoples of North America – such as the Cherokee and Choctaw – collected the resin, let it harden, and chewed it as a natural treat. Its somewhat sweet taste is what gave the tree its English name sweetgum. And when it comes to autumn foliage, sweetgums are clear winners, offering a wide range of vivid colours and holding onto their leaves longer than most other deciduous trees. In regions like New England or the Appalachian Mountains, they are among the main attractions of so-called "leaf peeping" – autumn trips to places with plentiful of autumn-coloured trees, now often organized by travel agencies. It’s the American counterpart to Japan’s momijigari tradition – just with hamburgers instead of jasmine rice.
Naree sweet gum was found as a spontaneous mutation of the species in Australia and did not reach Europe until after 2000 – it was first introduced by the Junker’s Nursery from Milverton, United Kingdom, in 2002. It belongs among a few unique varieties with yellow leaves. These are deciduous, broadly palmate, not too deeply cut, yet the tips are conspicuous and resemble a maple leaf. They lack additional notches at the edges, which in other varieties evoke a resemblance to cut-leaved maples (dissectum group). In spring they emerge bright yellow to orange yellow, with the arrival of hot weather in summer the colour changes to chartreuse or even yellow-green (in moist soils), and in autumn they turn golden again and begin to blush red like a shy schoolgirl.
It is a deciduous tree or a tall shrub with upright branches and slower growth compared to the species (about 30 cm per year). It naturally forms a regularly pyramidal shape and exhibits dense branching even without pruning. You can grow it as a shrub feathered from the ground, but it can also be trained into a tree with a single leader. It is easy to shape and can be kept smaller by pruning at the end of winter. Once you give it a desired form it does not usually go wild to spoil it for a long time. Another nice feature is the fruit. Formed in about 3 cm wide spiny spheres they can be quite attractive to look at and a bit irritating when stepped on barefoot once they have hardened up, if not cleared from pavements or lawns in spring.
Sweet gums are quite soil adaptable but prefer semi-fertile, deep, evenly moist but well-drained soil that should be acidic or at least neutral. It will not thrive on chalk or lime. Once established they can take both temporary flooding and drought. The more acidic and moist soil you can provide (by adding peat and mulching the roots with bark) the better autumn colours can be expected. The location should be sunny as it does not tolerate shaded areas. If you buy a plant taller than say 1.5m stake it well for minimum of 2 or rather 3 years. Plants older than 3 years are fully hardy to about -27 °C (USDA zone 5).
Last update 08-11-2021
