Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic

Prevalent in the southeast,* this low maintenance tree is prized for its timber. Its common name derives from sweet, gummy, aromatic sap with compounds used in traditional and modern medicine. It has distinctive star-shaped leaves and prickly seed balls that drop and litter the ground fall to spring.
*It is native to DC and common in DE. It is found mostly in extreme southeast PA and the Coastal Plain and outer Piedmont of MD. In VA it is common in the Coastal Plain and outer Piedmont, becoming infrequent to rare in the inner and far northern Piedmont, and disjunct across the Blue Ridge. It is native to NoVA.
Learn more about Liquidambar styraciflua.









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