American Sweet Gum Tree Seeds

Birth control injections for sweet gum trees.

American sweet gum tree seeds. It is also not related to the black gum nyssa sylvatica. The sweet gum s primary liability according to the makers of this list are the thousands of spiny brown seed balls gum balls if you will that it casts upon the ground around it. Interestingly sweet gum tea was an herbal treatment for the flu and the cherokee made a tea out of the bark. Prefers deep moist slightly acid soil full sun.

Liquidambar styraciflua rotundiloba is a sterile non fruiting culitivar of sweetgum that does not produce the famous spiky seed pods commonly called gumballs. Press the seeds into the perlite. The star anise pod is about 7 shikimic acid the pine needles 3 and the sweet gum 1 7 to 3. Distinguishing characteristics are the spiky fruits and the star shaped leaves that put on a show in the fall.

Sweet gum bark and leaves have some but the highest concentration is in the infertile seeds. Adults despise them as well because they can roll underfoot and cause a fall especially on paved surfaces. Department of agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 to 9 in full sun. The tree prefers moist slightly acidic soil but.

Children call them gumballs or stickerballs and it s rare to find a child with a sweetgum growing nearby that hasn t had an unpleasant experience with the spiky pods. I have some around here and it is time to collect the seeds and try to start some seedlings. I have admired how massively enormous american sweet gum trees can grow. The american sweetgum trees are classified as liquidambar styraciflua according to plant taxonomy.

Sweet gum trees are native to the eastern u s but grow well throughout u s. Place the sweetgum seeds inside a quart sized sealable plastic bag filled with 1 cup of moistened perlite. A common deciduous tree in the united states is the american sweetgum. It can t be too hard because we have little sweet gum sprouts all over the place.

The infertile seeds found in each of the sweet gum s compound seed capsules are a naturally occurring source of shikimic acid one of the main ingredients in the manufacture of tamiflu. The downside to growing a sweetgum tree is the seed pods. Fall is the time to collect most tree seeds. The american sweetgum tree can reach mature heights of 60 to 75 feet.

According to the lazy landscaper these hard brown spiky balls that can create some serious hazards. This is a great tree for lawns parks or as a street tree.