3298.000 Liquidambar L. - Sweetgums

Gleason, H.A. & Cronquist, A. (1963) Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada D. van Nostrand Co, Inc. Princetown New Jersey.

Description of the genus

Usually monoecious trees. Leaves deciduous, alternate, serrate, palmately veined and lobed, with stipules. Flowers unisexual without petals, in spherical heads. Male flowers in erect terminal racemes of several heads; stamens many. Female flowers amalgamated into a single dense head borne on a pendent peduncle; ovary 2-celled with a persistent style. Mature fruiting head hard and woody. Seeds winged.

Derivation of name: From Latin, liquidus, fluid and Arabic, ambar, amber, referring to the fragrant resin of the bark of Liquidambar orientalis.

Comment: The leaves are similar to those of maples (Acer spp.) but maples have opposite leaves.

Worldwide: 4 species native to Asia, the eastern Mediterranean and North America.

Zimbabwe: 2 cultivated taxa.

Liquidambar styraciflua

Links to cultivated taxa    View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesContent
formosana Hance
styraciflua L.Image

Other sources of information about Liquidambar:

External websites:

ePIC (electronic Plant Information Center): Liquidambar
Flora Zambesiaca web site: Liquidambar
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
GRIN (Germplasm Resources Information Network) taxonomy for plants report for Liquidambar
Wikipedia: Liquidambar
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Liquidambar
Kew Herbarium catalogue: Liquidambar

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-23

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2023). Flora of Zimbabwe: Cultivated plants: genus page: Liquidambar.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/cult/genus.php?genus_id=1767, retrieved 2 April 2023

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