Liquidambar styraciflua (USA)

 

Images
by Gurcharan Singh, Vijayasankar Raman & Aarti S Khale, Identified by (Inserted by J.M.Garg)

 

  

 

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Flora of Mississippi, USA-003  : Liquidambar styraciflua is indigenous in N.America, and also commonly planted as an ornamental. The tree at present is in flowering and I shall send the pictures soon.

– You are tempting me to upload mine from California. I have more than 1000 species from the area photographed during three years of visit.
Here are of this species, commonest in our apartment complex in Sunnyvale.

–  1000 species?!!! WOW!
    …a potential resource supplement to Calflora…
    Thanks .., now I decided to post all my unidentified plants also…

– This is  very commonly planted street tree in some  neighborhoods…in NY.. and in Connecticut… called sweetgum… the leaves are unique, and the seepods scratchy to say the least… Leaves turn kinda brown in NY but its bright orangeish red in CT….

– You know when I visited USA in 2008 and saw it for the first time, Platanus and Acer (maple) came to my mind, leaves of maple and infl. of Platanus, till I finally got it identified through TAXACOM Group.

– Is n’t it exhilarating (at least for me it is) when I track down the identity of some plant… based on photos or finally description, toxonomic details…though I am not very comfortable with taxonomy yet…  thogh I imagine it can’t be any more difficult to master than the weird rare cancers…. or endocrime  or immunological disorders…. were you elated when you discovered the sweetgum identity?  I do not remember if it turns any nice color in california…

– Yes in the same way as maple turns up in autumn in USA and Europe

Liquidambar styraciflua L., Sp. pl. 2:999. 1753
Aligator wood, American Storax, sweetgum
This tree I first found in USA in 2008, common avenue tree in California. Not able to identify it myself due to paucity of literature I sent it to TAXACOM forum with note “A tree with leaves like maple and inflorescence like Platanus” it was soon identified as Liquidambar styraciflua. I am sharing it.

Yes Sir, close resemblance with Maple (Aceraceae) and Chinar (Platanaceae). Though from a family (Altingiaceae) different from both. Is it planted in India?

Sweet gum. very common street tree in urban and even some semi rural NY and New England states.

Thanks Sir for this interesting plant.. I have seen one Liquidamber species in Botanical Garden of BSI, Dehradun.. I will share the picture..

I have never seen in India

I am attaching my pics of this taxon from Botanical Garden of BSI, Dehradun.. The placard says this is “Liquidambor formosana“..though this should be Liquidambar formosana … Attachments (3)

 

 

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My Flora Picture of the Year 2014 : Aarti Khale : 16 posts by 10 authors. Attachments (1)
This year, I had quite a few pictures to choose from.

Adding a picture of Liquidambar styraciflua taken in Fremont, California during a short visit in September.
The color of these leaves really fascinated me.
Earlier, I had seen the leaves only in pictures. 
Quoting … on our group “A tree with leaves like maple and inflorescence like Platanus“. 
Common names include Aligator Wood, American Storax and American Sweetgum.

A wonderful picture from your valuable collection

Adding pictures of the tender fruit. Attachments (2)

Thanks for beautiful post and supplementing nicely …

Beautiful picture of a temperate element. The colour of leaves make it more striking.

 

 
 
 
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