Sweet Gum
SWEET GUM
(Liquidambar styraciflua)
Shape broad headed, 40-140 ft. tall. Trunk massive. Branches ascending above, horizontal below, often corky ridged on the twigs. Bark gray brown, deeply furrowed vertically, the ridges broad, flat and scaly. Twigs bright green. Leaves fragrant when crushed, turning deep yellow or rich red in autumn. Fruit a hard, spherical head, often persistent all winter, most of its chambers empty of fertile seeds. Range: s. States n. to Mo., and, near the coast, through the Middle Atlantic States to se. Conn. This curious tree, often contorted and ungraceful, attains its greatest development in the Mississippi basin. Its hard, heavy wood is used for the outside finish of houses, for flooring, barrels and cabinet making, and from the resinous sap a fragrant oil is distilled, used for catarrhal troubles and as a basis for chewing gum.
Pawpaw
PAWPAW
(Asimina triloba)
Shrub or low tree, up to 40 ft. tall. Trunk at most 1 ft. thick. Bark dark brown marked with large ash colored blotches. Leaves 6-12 in. long. Flowers borne singly, about 1½ in. across, with 6 fleshy maroon or purple petals and 3 reflexed green sepals, blooming March-April. Fruit fleshy, 3-5 in. long, by 1-1½ in. thick, weighing 6-12 ounces, the skin brown, finally black. Range: s. states to se. Neb., s. Mich., Ont., rarer up the Atlantic seaboard to e. Pa. The leaves of this curious little tree are unpleasantly scented while the flowers smell like those of red Trillium or Strawberry Bush. The fruit is generally ripe about the time of the first frosts: it is in condition to eat when the skin turns black and warps away from the flesh, and that of certain individual trees may be excellent, as custardy fruits go.
Juneberry Shadbush