The American sweetgum (Liquidambar styriciflua) grows to a height of 60–75' and has a spread of 40–50' at maturity. It grows from 13 inches to 24 inches per year. Deep, glossy green star-shaped leaves mark the Sweetgum. The leaves turn yellow-purple-red in the fall and stay on the tree quite late in the season. Its shape is pyramidal, becoming more rounded with age. The Sweetgum tree is native to the southeastern United States and a member of a genus made up of only six species. The others are found only in Asia. The first historical reference to the tree comes from the author and soldier, Don Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who accompanied Cortez in 1519 and was a witness to ceremonies between Cortez and Montezuma, when both partook of a liquid amber extracted from a sweetgum tree. Once commercially popular for soaps, adhesives and pharmaceuticals, today its wood is valuable for fine furniture and interior finishing. Small mammals such as chipmunks, red squirrels and gray squirrels also enjoy the fruits and seeds. American sweetgum seeds are also eaten by eastern goldfinches, purple finches, sparrows, mourning doves, northern bobwhites and wild turkeys.
