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Genus LIQUIDAMBAR, Linn. — Part 1

(L. Styraciflua) SWEET GUM

The relationship of the witch hazel and sweet gum is not obvious to the general observer. In fact, the common characters are such as only the keen eye of the botanist detects. The 2-horned woody capsules joined together in the sweet gum seed ball is morphologically the same type as the solitary woody 2-lipped seed capsule of the witch hazel.

Eighteen genera compose the subtropical family,. Hamamelidaceae. Two genera, each with a single species, are native to North America. There are two or three species of Hamamelis in Eastern Asia. The four species of Liquidambar include one Mexican and two Asiatic species beside our own sweet gum.