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Dec. 17, 2006 An unpretentious, but historically very important, tree is the sweetgum tree, of the genus Liquidambar. The American sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua, is one of four species in the genus. The meaning of ‘Liquidambar’ is obvious; ‘styraciflua’ means ‘flowing with storax’. Storax is a resinous exudate from sweetgum and styrax trees and bushes, and is used as an incense, and in making perfumes, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. The genus Liquidambar has been recently reclassified. Formerly it was in the witch-hazel family, Hamamelidaceae, of the order Hamamelidales. Under the APG System’s taxonomy, introduced in 1998, it has been moved to the family Altingiaceae of the order Saxifragales. The American sweetgum tree is known also by an incredible number of synonyms: alligator-tree, alligatorwood, ambarwood, American mahogany, blisted, delta redgum, figured gum, gum, gumtree, gumwood, hazel pine, hazelwood, incense-tree, liquidambar, mulberry, opossum-tree, plain redgum, quartered redgum, redgum, sapgum, sapwood hazel pine, satin walnut, satinwood, splint sapgum, splinted sapgum, starleaf gum, sycamore gum and whitegum. It is a dicotyledonous tree, broadleaf and deciduous. It is native to the eastern part of the United States and Mexico, but is planted widely elsewhere. In fact, I became aware of sweetgums in 2003, when I was living in Los Angeles. The fruit of the sweetgum looks like a large cocklebur, with little spines radiating in all directions to form a one-inch sphere. By the merest coincidence I saw a photograph of this so-called ‘gumball’ in a book on trees, when I was looking for something else. I’d never have guessed I’d identify anything so prosaic and undistinguished. The leaves are five-point stars, which also makes the tree easy to recognize. The bark is relatively soft, with the feel of cotton flannel. The mature tree stands 75 to 100 feet tall. They can be seen at Los Angeles Arboretum, Union Station, MacArthur Park and other locations in Los Angeles. I discovered at least three varieties of American sweetgums, but found no information on the subject other than that varieties do exist. In 1839, a German druggist named Eduoard Simon distilled a substance from storax of the closely-related species Liquidambar orientalis. The distillate, upon setting, thickened into a jelly, which Simon named ‘styrol’. Today, styrol is usually known as ‘styrene’, which is the monomer from which ‘polystyrene’ is derived. This, of course, is one of the more famous plastics on the market today. Polystyrene is used in the manufacture of office accessories, toys, cassettes, disposable spoons, forks and knives, and most importantly, styrofoam. Styrofoam is the substance used in plastic coffee cups, food trays and packing for boxed appliances. However, nowadays polystyrene is produced as a derivative of petroleum, but it began with the sweetgum tree. Storax is also called ‘stacte’, and is mentioned in the Bible, in Exodus 30:34, and perhaps elsewhere: “And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight.” Here’s a link to a note on the Biblical significance of storax. However, the author may be confusing the genera Styrax and Liquidambar, which are not synonymous: Here’s a picture of a typical sweetgum: Here’s a beautiful autumn picture of the leaves, which are classified by shape as ‘palmate’ or ‘stellate’: ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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