Sweet gum

摘要

Whenever we do a little reading about the way things were in our industry in the "old days," meaning the 1920s and 1930s, we find out that one of the major species back then was sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua). The name liquidambar is from the common name in Mexico [indirectly from Latin, meaning liquid and amber) in reference to the fragrant resin. The yellowish-colored sap [technically called gum in a hardwood tree) is exuded from bark wounds and can actually be boiled down and concentrated into a salve that will reportedly cure skin problems and other ailments. Maybe you have seen those golf-ball size prickly fruits that fall from the sweetgum tree along with the large, star-shaped leaf? Or perhaps you have seen the five-pointed, star-shaped leaf.