# Can anyone identify this type of tree? (Link to photo) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812 "2021-12-28T21:45:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/1 "2021-12-28T21:45:36Z")
I recently took this [photo](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51780889594_b4df5e93b0_o_d.jpg) of a tree in my neighborhood. Can anyone identify the most likely kind of tree it is? I just want to add a tag to the Flickr image. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/2 "2021-12-28T21:54:08Z")
Are those balls hanging off it spiky? It’s hard to tell with the snow. If so, it could be a sweet gum. > **[The most dangerous tree in the suburbs](https://americanorchard.wordpress.com/2014/04/25/the-most-dangerous-tree-in-the-suburbs/)** > > The Sweet Gum Tree A forty foot tall Sweet Gum tree rises from the northeast corner of my back yard. On this early spring day, the tree is still a skeleton, although leaf buds are just beginning to… ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2021, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/3 "2021-12-28T21:57:24Z")
Are the fruit on it little spiky balls? If so, it’s probably a sweet gum tree. Ugh, called away by a quick work email, and ninja’ed! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2021, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/4 "2021-12-28T23:27:43Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > Are those balls hanging off it spiky? I’ll have to take a closer look. Meanwhile, I didn’t pay attention to this particular tree last fall, so I don’t know what color its leaves turned to. However, I do remember seeing other trees around here of the same general shape which did turn that color in the fall. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2021, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/5 "2021-12-28T23:32:09Z")
Apparently sweetgums aren’t native to Oregon so it’d have to be an import. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/6 "2021-12-28T23:46:18Z")
I’ve seen many in Oregon, so I’d guess it gets used for landscaping a lot. A friend got one that was supposed to not have those fruit, but it wound up producing them. I remember he complained to the nursery he got it from, but I don’t remember what happened. The spiky things are pretty distinctive. Like a ball made entirely of open bird beaks. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/7 "2021-12-29T00:10:40Z")
_Liquidambar styraciflua_ better known as liquidamber… yes used in gardens the world over. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/8 "2021-12-29T15:25:45Z")
And now… Number 4… The Sweetgum. The Sweetgum. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2022, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/9 "2022-01-03T01:48:17Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > Are those balls hanging off it spiky? It’s hard to tell with the snow The snow’s all gone and I stopped by there again today. Are [these](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51794571187_fd0684083e_o_d.jpg) the kind of seed pods you’re referring to? I think I’ve seen trees like this down in SoCal, although they don’t grow as well, possibly due to the dry climate. I think of them as “asterisk trees”. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2022, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/10 "2022-01-03T08:37:08Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I think of them as “asterisk trees”. My mom refers to the seed pods as “Sputniks.” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/11 "2022-01-04T03:56:40Z")
Here is a picture of a close-up of sweet gum leaves including some still-green seed pods. Is this what OP’s tree looks like? The leaves turn red or reddish before they fall. The pods become very stiff and spiky when they ripen. I kinda think that sweet gum trees and liquid amber trees are two different, but very similar and closely related species. Maybe they are the same species. They are widely used ornamental trees. The street that I grew up on in Los Angeles was lined with these trees. The pods make an obnoxious mess – there are so any of them all over the place, and they are stiff and spikey. As noted above, each spike looks like a baby birds beak begging Mama Bird for breakfast. We always called them “birds nests”. [![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5286/359/1600/Garden%20sweet%20gum%20seeds.jpg) ](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5286/359/1600/Garden%20sweet%20gum%20seeds.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/12 "2022-01-04T04:00:07Z")
Here is a close-up of the liquid amber or sweet gum seed pod, fully opened up. Is this what OP’s tree has? [![](https://live.staticflickr.com/8498/8346299205_ee0cd0ea5c_b.jpg) ](https://live.staticflickr.com/8498/8346299205_ee0cd0ea5c_b.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-type-of-tree-link-to-photo/956812/13 "2022-01-04T21:55:51Z")
Kick up the snow a little and look for dropped seed pods and dropped leaves. There are often a lot of dropped pods under a sweetgum tree. If you find any leaves, they should have a five-point star shape.