Poisonous Sweet Gum Tree Balls

In a few weeks the sweet gum s glossy green leaves five pointed stars.

Poisonous sweet gum tree balls. Despite its name the gum is not sweet. A forty foot tall sweet gum tree rises from the northeast corner of my back yard. On our typical route there are 3 trees that bear these weird little balls. It is currently classified in the plant family altingiaceae but was formerly considered a member of the hamamelidaceae.

Find an instructional recipe here. Additionally the sweet gum s spiky gum balls hang conspicuously from the tree s smaller. You painfully find them with your feet. Summer shade and vibrant fall leaf color are merits of the sweet gum tree liquidambar styraciflua.

It is recognizable by the combination of its five pointed star shaped leaves and its hard spiked fruits. Sweet gum is hardy in u s. They are hard round balls about 1 1 2 inches in diameter and covered with sharp little bristles that can hurt a dog s paws. I think she may have ingested them this morning.

When i m pulling a wagon full of kids they can make travel difficult. Sweet gum is one of the main valuable forest trees in the southeastern united states and is a popular ornamental tree in temperate climates. The vicious seed pods have impaled many a forager and has done much to ruin the sweet gum s reputation. Chemical treatments however can stop a tree s fruit production which keeps the lawn free of that litter.

Fill to the top with alcohol such as vodka or pure grain alcohol and let it steep for 6 weeks. The tree s dark grayish brown twigs bear unusual corky ridges that lend the tree a peculiar angularity. I ve twisted my ankle on them more than once. Some folks have experimented with just gathering the infertile seeds from opened balls which is time consuming.

She always is trying to eat something but now she s very lethargic and is drinking lots of water. Despite these nuisances we always slow down to take a look and to collect the unusual alien balls we always end up with. This plant s genus. She s a flat coated retriever about 75 lbs.

I think my dog has eaten some sweet gum balls from a sweet gum tree. Hundreds more lie scattered throughout the grass and spill out onto the alleyway asphalt where most are flattened by car wheels. It s called sweet. To tincture sweet gum simply gather green unripe sweet gum balls cut them up or smash them with a small hammer and place them in a quart jar.

Round spiny fruits or balls that litter the ground making a simple walk across the yard a precarious one. The only edible part of the tree is the dried sap which makes a fragrant bitter chewing gum. The tradeoff for these perks is a source of aggravation for some gardeners. Simon has crashed his bike more than once when his front tire hit one.

In 2015 the city of chesterfield branded the trees a nuisance and hazardous which required homeowners to maintain a ball free path on the sidewalks and part of the street the trees may be beautiful but sweet gum balls are known to block up sewer inlets and many complain about tripping and falling on them. Department of agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 9. The sweet gum tree is the sand spur of the forest. On this early spring day the tree is still a skeleton although leaf buds are just beginning to emerge and dozens of sweet gum balls dangle from its naked branches like shriveled christmas tree ornaments.