Stats

Lifespan: 150-400 yrs
Size: Large
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: North America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Armor
Status: Common

About

The American sweetgum dazzles each autumn with star-shaped leaves that shift from green to vivid scarlet, orange, and purple before falling, while its distinctive spiky round seed pods — nicknamed 'gumballs' — cling to bare branches through winter.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Altingiaceae
Genus: Liquidambar
Species: Liquidambar styraciflua