numerous, or solitary by abortion; compressed, membranous, winged.
Albumen present. ( G. Don.) , , , . , , , ,
Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, deciduous ; lobed, with glandular serratures
at the edges. Flowers in catkins, greenish yellow. Fmut m globular
capsules, brown. —Trees, natives of Asia and North America, with beau-
tiful foliage, and intense fragrance. Decaying leaves of an intense purple.
Common soil, kept somewhat moist; and seeds or layers.
G enus I.
m.t.
LIQUIDA'MBAR L . T h e L i q u i d a m b a r . Lin. Syst. Monoe'cia
Polyándria.
Identiñcation. Lin. Gen., 1076. ; Reich., 1174. ; Juss., 410.
Svnonmnes. Alting/« Noronh. ; Liquidambar, Fr. ; Ambarbaum, Ger.
Derivalion. From liquidas, liquid, and ainbar, amber ; the plants exuding a liquid gum.
Gen. Char., See Ord. Char.
¥ 1 L S t y r a c Ú f l u a L . The Sweet-Gum Liquidambar.
1- t- 139. ; Michx. Arb., 3. I. 4. ; the plates o fth is tree m Arb, Bnt.,
1st e d it, vol. viii. ; and our D38.
Spec. Char., 4c. Leaves palmately lobed, with the sinuses at the base of the
veins villose. ( JVil/d.) A deciduous tree. North America, middle, western,
and southern States. Height 30 ft. to 50 ft. Introduced m 1681. Mowers
greenish yellow ; March and April. Fruit brown ; ripe m October.
The liquidambar generally forms a branching tree, having very muc^i the
appearance of a maple. The leaves die off of an intensely deep purplish red,
more or less mixed with orange, and with some leaves entirely of that colour.
They hang on the trees till the first frosts, when they drop off simultaneously.
The rate of growth of this tree, in the
climate of London, is from 8 ft. to 10 ft. in
1 0 years from the seed ; and in 2 0 years it
will attain the height of 25 or 30 feet, and
flower and ripen fruit. In Britain, the principal
use of this tree is as an ornament to
lawns and pleasure-grounds ; in which it
has a most striking appearance, when the
leaves are dying off’ in autumn ; and it is
also very beautiful throughout the summer,
from the dark green and glossy surface
of its elegantly shaped leaves. When
bruised, the leaves are fragrant at all seasons
; but in spring, when they arc first
unfolding, after a warm shower, the surrounding
air is filled with their refreshing
odour. The liquidambar has a decided
preference for a moist soil, and will only i73S. l. styraciflua.
attain a timber-like size in a sheltered ■
situation. In British nurseries, it is generally propagated b y layers, wmcn
root with tolerable facility, and may be taken off at the end oi the nrst
autumn after they have been formed. It is also propagated by seeds importe
fora America. These are brought over in the catkins, and should not be
taken out of them till the time of sowing ; because the seeds, like those ot the
pine and fir tribe, do not keep well wben exposed to the air. The round
pnckly catkins which contain the seeds are hard, and not readilv bi'oken with
the hand; but, by exposure to the sun or to fire heat, they crack and open
and the seeds may then be easily shaken out. They may be sown and treated
like seeds of the pine and fir tribe ; but, unlike them, they lie a year in the
ground before coming up. Seedlings generally attain the height of from 5 in
to 8 m. the first year, with numerous fibrous roots. They may either 1?
transplanted that year or the next, and may afterwards undergo the usual
routine culture in nursery lines, till they are wanted for final transplanting.
t 2. L. iMBB RBE Wil/d. The beardless, or Oriental, Liquidambar
M atijkatw n. Willd. Sp. P l., 4. p. 4W.; Alt. Hort. Kew., 3. p. 366.; N. Du Ham 2 n 44
" '“ • » • " ■ f r “ * ” “ ’ Hooock. / t . r 2 ’. ? f r s ? t u . im .
Engravings. ? Focock. Itin., 2. t. 89 j and our fig. 1739.
Spec. Char., f r . Leaves palmate-lobed, with the sinuses at the base of the
veins; smooth. (Willd.) A low stunted tree, or large bush, of .slow
powth, with numerous small brancheacrowded together into an irregular
head. Levant. Height 1 0 ft. to 2 0 . ft. Introduced in 1759. Floweis?.
The young shoots are pliant and reddish ; the leaves are nuich like those of
the preceding specie.s, but smaller, and more resembling those of the coimiion
maple; because they are bluntly notched, while the others are acutely
1739. L. imbèrbe. L . imbèrbe- 1740. L. Styraciflua.
so. (Seej%. 1740., in which « is a leaf of L. Styraciflua, and b one of L im
bérbe, both to the same scale.) The veins of the leaves, in this siiecies are
naked, while in the other they are hairy at the base of the midrib. The
flowers are disposed like those in the preceding species, and the fruit is
smaller, and more sparingly furnished with prickly points. The rate of
growth, in the climate of London, is slow, being not more than 5 or 6 feet
in ten years. It will grow in a soil rather drier than suits the precedili»
species; though Du Hamel was inibrmed that in its native countrv it grows in
moist soil, by water, like the _ . ’
common willow.
L. AUing\a Blume Bjdr. 10.
p. 527. (Fl. Jav., t. 1 . ; anc!
o u r/g . 1741.) Aitingia excélsa
Noronha in Batav. Vcr-
hand. 5. p. 1 ., Pers. Syn. 2.
p. 579., Spreng. Syst. Veg. 3.
p. 8 8 8 ., Lambert’s Genus
Pbnw, ]. t. 39, 40. ; Lignum
papuanum Rumph. Herbar.
Amboyn. 2. p. 57. ; Alting’s
Liquidambar.—Leaves ovate-
oblong, acuminate, serrated,
glabrous. (Blume.) A tree,
with a spreading head, from
150 ft. to 200 ft. high. It is