Liquidambar styraciflua 'AUREA' sweetgum
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.
The sweetgum Aurea immediately attracts attention with its exceptional foliage – irregularly mottled in golden yellow against a background of medium green, this colouration reliably lasts from spring until autumn, when the yellow areas shift towards light pink and rose tones, while the originally dark green parts turn purplish red. The leaves are typically deeply lobed, palmate, most often five‑lobed but sometimes seven‑lobed, with pronounced venation, and when rubbed they release a pleasant resinous scent. Aurea grows as an upright tree or a feathered shrub, at first narrowly pyramidal with a strong central leader, later widening into a broadly pyramidal crown. Growth is moderate to somewhat slower than the species, reaching 6–8 m in garden conditions and up to 15 m in open spaces.
The origin of this cultivar has not been clearly preserved. Several variegated sweetgum varieties exist, but the very first documented offer of a “golden” form comes from the catalogue of Henry Kohankie and Son (Ohio) in 1940, where it was listed under the name ‘Aurea’. Later, this form was cultivated for example at the Arboretum Adeline in France (records from 2005) as a tree with yellowish spring foliage that fades to green in summer and turns red in autumn. Confusion arose in the 1960s when Ed Scanlon (Ohio, 1962) marketed what was probably the Dutch clone ‘Variegata’ under the invalid name ‘Aureum’, leading to the impression that ‘Aurea’ and ‘Variegata’ were synonyms. After the Second World War, a number of other “golden” selections appeared on the market (for example ‘Aurora’, described in the Netherlands in 1977), many probably representing the same or very similar mutation; in practice, some material reverted to green leaves or showed different autumn intensity, which further complicates the clear identification of individual clones.
Sweetgums are relatively tolerant when it comes to planting sites, but they do have preferences if you want them to thrive and look their best. Always give them full sun – adequate light is the key to vibrant autumn colours. They’ll cope with ordinary garden soil, but they’ll be more vigorous and attractive in acidic, deep soil that doesn’t dry out completely. Once established, they are impressively drought-tolerant – they can even draw moisture from dew condensed on their leaves overnight. On the other hand, they can also handle more water and we’ve found they’ll grow even tolerate occasional waterlogging which results in turning colours and shedding the leaves much earlier than others. Standard forms with a trunk require a strong support – a staking set for the first three years until they establish. The soil above the roots should be kept free of turf or competing plants – ideally mulched. Pruning or shaping, if needed, is best done in late winter or in midsummer. Very young plants should be protected from severe frost, as their hardiness is around –20 °C, but mature trees and shrubs with lignified tissues can easily withstand temperatures down to –29 °C (USDA zone 5).
Last update 12-02-2008; 16-11-2025
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- STANDARD QUALITY - Plants of this group are 1st class quality with number of branches and overall density adequate to their size and age, considering they were container grown.
- DE LUXE QUALITY - This label guarantees a luxurious quality of manually selected plants that, compared to their height and age, are exceptionally dense and beautiful.
- EXTRA - These plants are usually mature and bigger specimens with exceptional overall appearance.
- STANDARD (as described in the plant form) means a tree with a trunk of 190-210 cm and a crown at the top, unless specified differently. The commercial size for trees is their girth measured in the height of 1m from ground.
- HOBBY - These plants are of the same quality as our standard-quality plants but younger and therefore cheaper.
- SHRUB - a woody plant with branches growing bushy from the ground level.
- HALF-STANDARD or MINI-STANDARD - a small tree with shorter trunk, its size is usually specified.
- FEATHERED - These are trees with branches growing already from the base of the trunk and up along the stem.
- GRASSES and PERENNIALS - Sizes given usually read the diameter of the pot or the clump, as specified.
