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Liquidambar styraciflua; photograph (c) Aquilinus, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Aquilinus, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-12

Liquidambar styraciflua L.

Sweet-gum; American-storax; Red-gum; American Sweet Gum

Altingiaceae · Illinois, Missouri +27

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Liquidambar styraciflua, photograph (c) Jeff Clark, some rights reserved (CC BY)Liquidambar styraciflua, photograph (c) betsyyyy, some rights reserved (CC BY)Liquidambar styraciflua, photograph (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY)Liquidambar styraciflua, photograph (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY)Liquidambar styraciflua, photograph (c) Taylor Seybert, some rights reserved (CC BY)Liquidambar styraciflua, photograph (c) Taylor Seybert, some rights reserved (CC BY) 70 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-7.2°C
Record low -21.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,269mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
15–40DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Liquidambar styraciflua, commonly known as the American sweetgum among other names, is a deciduous tree in the genus Liquidambar native to warm temperate areas of eastern North America and tropical montane regions of Mexico and Central America. Sweetgum is one of the main valuable forest trees in the southeastern United States, and is a popular ornamental tree in temperate climates. It is recognizable by the combination of its five-pointed star-shaped leaves (similar to maple leaves) and its hard, spiked fruits. It is currently classified in the plant family Altingiaceae, but was formerly considered a member of the Hamamelidaceae.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Liquidambar styraciflua", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (859 mm of 1,223 mm) takes 8 months, March to September and December. Mean temperature moves 21.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to March and June.

Rain

1,223 mm in the median year at the habitat, 859 mm of it March to September and December. Wettest month July at 121 mm, driest month February at 87 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,116 mm to 1,537 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,269 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,223 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 12, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -7.2 °C, the absolute minimum -21.9 °C, 2,838 frost nights in 44 years, 64.5 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.9 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 1.1 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -3.2 °C to 8.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.1 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -7.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 60% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +19 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Liquidambar styraciflua through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 1.1 °C; 1,223 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost37.9° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-21.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 15–40RH 56–60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 817 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C10 / 5–1713 / 6–1917 / 11–2222 / 17–2626 / 22–2930 / 26–3231 / 28–3330 / 28–3327 / 24–3022 / 19–2616 / 13–2211 / 7–18
Night °C1 / -3–83 / -2–106 / 2–1211 / 7–1615 / 12–2020 / 17–2322 / 20–2422 / 19–2418 / 16–2213 / 10–187 / 5–133 / -1–10
Rain mm90 / 69–13487 / 70–138107 / 88–14096 / 75–121109 / 82–139114 / 100–182121 / 97–184109 / 80–189104 / 84–15994 / 79–13193 / 69–12899 / 72–144
DLI17 / 14–2021 / 20–2528 / 26–3235 / 33–3939 / 37–4140 / 39–4138 / 38–4135 / 34–3830 / 28–3224 / 22–2718 / 15–2215 / 12–18
RH %58 / 56–6057 / 55–5956 / 55–5956 / 54–5958 / 56–6159 / 57–6360 / 57–6460 / 57–6559 / 57–6358 / 57–6058 / 57–5959 / 57–60
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 817 grid cells holding the 965 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1098:1984 (35.075, -80.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -21.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -7.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 817 distinct grid cells holding 965 of the 965 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1098:1984 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 35.00_-80.625, lapse-corrected +19 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 199 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeIllinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua · introduced: Belgium, Spain, Italy, New York · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker38.975, -76.917 · in the densest population, 657 records (64% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1034 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 965 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 204 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 11 km away. 717 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 69 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1034 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Liquidambar styraciflua, photograph 1did not loadLiquidambar styraciflua, photograph 2did not loadLiquidambar styraciflua, photograph 3did not loadLiquidambar styraciflua, photograph 4did not loadLiquidambar styraciflua, photograph 5did not loadLiquidambar styraciflua, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Jeff Clark, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) betsyyyy, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) xanderferret, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Taylor Seybert, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Persicaria setacea Persicaria setacea Bog smartweed Photo: CC0, author not statedDiospyros virginiana Diospyros virginiana American persimmon Photo: CC BY, Katja SchulzEupatorium album Eupatorium album White thoroughwort Photo: CC BY, carterOrontium aquaticum Orontium aquaticum Golden-club Photo: CC BY, Sean FeirsteinOxalis colorea Oxalis colorea Small's woodsorrel Photo: CC BY, Carol Ann McCormickPiptochaetium avenaceum Piptochaetium avenaceum Black oatgrass Photo: CC BY, Frog The Kermit

Other Liquidambar 6 in the reference

Liquidambar acalycina Liquidambar acalycina Chang’s sweet gum Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, KenraizLiquidambar chinensis Liquidambar chinensis Mountain Litchi Photo: CC BY, Aaron Liston Liquidambar chingii Altingiaceae Liquidambar excelsa Altingiaceae Liquidambar formosana Liquidambar formosana Chinese Sweet Gum Photo: CC0, author not statedLiquidambar orientalis Liquidambar orientalis Oriental sweetgum Photo: CC BY, Dena

Names & registers

Also known as Liquidambar barbata; Liquidambar gummifera; Liquidambar macrophylla; Liquidambar styraciflua f. pendula; Liquidambar styraciflua f. rotundiloba and 3 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Altingiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma +26
Wild records
1034 in range · 204 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 70 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (51 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 7 at a herbarium, 12 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 35.00_-80.625, lapse-corrected +19 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 60 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…