Liquidambar

American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

The Sweetgum (Liquidambar ) are a genus of flowering plants in the small family of Altingiaceae. The botanical genus name derives from the Latin word for liquid liquidus and the Arabic word ambar, amber from.

Use

Resin, stems, leaves and fruits are used medicinally.

For some species, a process called styrax resin is obtained, which is used for incense. Erroneously, the trees are often referred to as Storaxbäume or styrax. This is because until the 18th century, the resin mainly from the Storaxbaum ( Styrax officinalis ) has been obtained, but thereafter mostly from a real storax odor very similar, but not more closely related Oriental sweetgum (Liquidambar orientalis). This grows in southern Asia Minor, on the island of Rhodes, but especially in Syria.

An original member of the genus grows in Guatemala and Honduras ( Liquidambar styraciflua ), which also serves the resin extraction. Many varieties of this variety are known as the American sweetgum.

Description

Liquidambar species grow as deciduous trees, reaching heights of growth 12-20 meters, sometimes up to 40 meters. Plant parts may have simple hairs ( trichomes ). The bark is gray - brown. The alternate arranged on the branches leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The petiole is relatively long. The leaf blade is similar to maple, three -, five - or siebenlappig (sometimes with more lobes ) or they are rarely simple. The leaf margin is serrated. The lineal Stipules are more or less adherent to the base of the petioles and leave in early fall of narrow leaf scars.

Liquidambar species are monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ). The Blütenstandsschäfte are long and thin. The male flowers are in heads like or aged men part inflorescences, several of which are summarized in total racemose inflorescences. The most spherical, female inflorescence is actually a huddled panicle and has a bract. The male flowers have many stamens, the stamens and the egg-shaped anthers are about the same length. The female flowers contain staminodes, which are designed as scales or teeth around the Gynözeum and a semi- inferior ovary with many ovules, of which only the lowest fertil are. The pens are still visible on the mature fruit. The spherical fruit clusters contain many woody fruit capsules and open with two flaps. The pericarp is thin. Each capsule fruit contains many seeds, most of which are sterile, tiny and irregular edges. The fertile seeds are large, ellipsoid, slightly compressed and have membranous wings. The seed surface is textured like a net. The endosperm is thin and the embryo is straight.

The chromosome numbers be 2n = 30, 32

Dissemination

The genus Liquidambar has a disjoint area: the one in eastern Asia (two in China, one of them only there before ) and southwest Asia (Turkey and Rhodes ) on the other in Central and North America.

The genus Liquidambar is fossil evidence since the Tertiary, as in the lignite deposits in Germany. From the Garzweiler mine is from the Pliocene with an age of about 5 million years, the kind Liquidambar known lievenii.

System

This genus was provided by some authors to the subfamily Liquidambaroideae in the family of Hamamelidaceae. The genus name was first published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, 2, p 999. Type species is Liquidambar styraciflua L..

The genus includes about four ways:

• Liquidambar acalycina HTChang: Native to the central and southeastern China.
• Chinese sweet gum, sweet gum or Taiwanese Formosa Sweetgum (Liquidambar formosana Hance ): Native to the central and southeastern China, southeastern Korea, Taiwan, Laos, and northeastern Vietnam.
• Oriental sweetgum (Liquidambar orientalis Mill ): Native to south-western Turkey and on the Greek island of Rhodes.
• American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua L.): Native to North and Central America from the United States south to Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Swell

• Zhi- Yun Zhang, Hongda Zhang & Peter K. Endress: Hamamelidaceae in the Flora of China, Volume 9, p 21: Liquidambar - Online. (Section Description, systematics )
• Frederick G. Meyer: Hamamelidaceae in the Flora of North America, Volume 3: Liquidambar - Online. ( Description section )
• David John Mabberley: The Plant-Book. A portable dictionary of the higher plants. Cambridge University Press 1987. ISBN 0-521-34060-8
• Walter Erhardt et al: The big walleye. Encyclopedia of plant names. Volume 2 Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart, 2008. ISBN 978-3-8001-5406-7