Indeed, many people passionately dislike the fruits, which can clog drains, interfere with lawn mowing, and are painful if stepped on with bare feet. [Last cited on 2008 Nov 10]. An official website of the United States government. Your email address will not be published. In Kentucky, the tree is found throughout the state, but is scarce in the Bluegrass and on alkaline soils generally. Posts: 94. Recent references from organic websites have noted that the inner bark of sweetgum, boiled with milk, can relieve diarrhea, and oils from the leaves of sweetgum trees have antimicrobial properties against both bacteria and viruses. The leaves also have a camphor odor when crushed. In the same family as witch hazel, the sweet gum tree is uniquely american. Storax, also referred to as styrax, is produced by damaging the outer bark of sweetgum trees. How to Save Seeds from Sweetgum Trees - Growing The Home Garden Spring Flowers of the Sweet Gum Tree - Liquidambar . Sweet-gum | The Morton Arboretum Sale Price $31.96 http://www.ntfpinfo.us/docs/other/VirginiaTech2001-SweetgumFactsheet.pdf, http://hort.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/tree_fact_sheets/liqstya.pdf. Once you have a fruiting tree, an entirely new variety of benefits is available to you. Those spiky fruits drop on your lawn and are seemingly immune to your efforts to rake or mow them. Its antiseptic and antibacterial properties are useful in both contexts. 12 (december, 1919), pp. I never thought picking up those darn gum balls would be so much FUN!. Now, I don't know much of anything about how well gum balls might work for 'spiritual protection', but just looking at the sweet gum balls, it's easy to see how people might think they have magical repellant powers after all, put some around and they'll sure keep me away! Etsy uses cookies and similar technologies to give you a better experience, enabling things like: Detailed information can be found in Etsys Cookies & Similar Technologies Policy and our Privacy Policy. National Library of Medicine The trees' spike ball fruit is almost as telltale for identification as the star-shaped leaves. The star-shaped leaves of sweet gum become even more striking in the autumn, when they turn various shades of gold, red, pink, and purple, often on the same tree. They tend to be about 1.5 inches in diameter and are yellow/green while still on the tree and dark brown in color once they fall, usually dropping in late winter/early spring.

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