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. |