# Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

> Sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua: a large tree of 60 to 131 feet for zones 5 to 9, when it flowers and fruits, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/sweetgum/

![Star-shaped sweetgum leaves turning red, purple, orange and yellow on low branches at the edge of a sunlit forest](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/sweetgum-2-1000.jpg?v=13d2a73c "A sweetgum in fall color at the start of the Cabin Trail in Powhatan State Park, Virginia, on October 25, 2024. Its fruiting heads ripen from September to November.")
*Photo: Virginia State Parks staff, [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APW_10-29-2024_6.jpg))*

Large tree, 60 to 131 feet, zones 5 to 9; full sun or part shade; dry, average or wet ground.

We do not grow sweetgum, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Sweetgum |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | American sweetgum, redgum, sapgum, bilsted, star-leaved gum, alligator-tree, red sweet gum, opossum-tree |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 60 to 131 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 75 |
| Zones | 5 to 9 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry, average or wet ground |
| Growth | Fast |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Fall color, wildlife value, salt tolerant, erosion control |
| Flowers | March to May |
| Fruit | Seed balls, September to November |
| First crop | 20 to 30 years (some trees have fruited 4 and 5 years after planting) |
| Pollination | Needs a second, unrelated tree. Male and female flowers grow on the same tree, but a tree's own pollen sets almost no seed, so a seed crop wants another sweetgum nearby. |
| Lifespan | Lives up to 300 years. |
| Transplanting | The Morton Arboretum's page on sweetgum says: "Transplanting is difficult due to a shallow, fleshy root system." |
| Planting season | Spring |
| Black walnut | Tolerant, on the Morton Arboretum's list as “sweet-gum” |
| Ground | Floodplain forests, the coast, old fields and edges, swamps and wet flats |
| Native in | 26 states and the District of Columbia |

Sweetgum is native in 26 states and the District of Columbia: [Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=sweetgum): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=sweetgum): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=sweetgum&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=sweetgum): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=sweetgum): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=sweetgum): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=sweetgum): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=sweetgum:2): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=sweetgum): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=sweetgum): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=sweetgum): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Black Gum (Tupelo)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-gum/index.html.md) (*Nyssa sylvatica*): large tree, 40 to 70 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, old fields and edges, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [American Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus americana*): large tree, 60 to 80 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, old fields and edges, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Blueberry Hawthorn](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/blueberry-hawthorn/index.html.md) (*Crataegus brachyacantha*): small tree, 20 to 50 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, old fields and edges, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Sugarberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sugarberry/index.html.md) (*Celtis laevigata*): large tree, 50 to 80 feet, zones 5 to 10. Shares floodplain forests, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Northern Catalpa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/northern-catalpa/index.html.md) (*Catalpa speciosa*): large tree, 40 to 70 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares floodplain forests, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Willow Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/willow-oak/index.html.md) (*Quercus phellos*): large tree, 40 to 75 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Every companion of sweetgum in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=sweetgum)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, UF/IFAS Extension, the US Forest Service and a study in Forest Science.