Plant: Slender Silhouette - Sweetgum Tree
Sweetgum Tree · Liquidambar styraciflua 'Slender Silhouette'
Size: 5 gal
Light
Bloom
Mature size
More about this plant
Slender Silhouette is a columnar sweetgum found growing wild in Franklin County, Tennessee that reaches 50 to 60 feet tall on a crown only 5 to 6 feet wide, with dense erect branching that extends to the ground. The glossy dark green star shaped leaves turn an unpredictable mix of yellow, orange, red and burgundy in fall. Small spiky woody balls are produced erratically and in far smaller quantity than on the species. It grows fast in full sun to partial shade on clay, loam or sandy soil, acid to neutral, and tolerates dry soil, salt, wind and urban conditions. Leaves yellow with chlorosis in alkaline soil.
- Full Sun
- Grows to 60 ft tall and 6 ft wide
- Blooms in spring
- Hardy in USDA zones 5-9
- Deciduous foliage
- Native plant
Plant description
Slender Silhouette is a columnar sweetgum found growing wild in Franklin County, Tennessee that reaches 50 to 60 feet tall on a crown only 5 to 6 feet wide, with dense erect branching that extends to the ground. The glossy dark green star shaped leaves turn an unpredictable mix of yellow, orange, red and burgundy in fall. Small spiky woody balls are produced erratically and in far smaller quantity than on the species. It grows fast in full sun to partial shade on clay, loam or sandy soil, acid to neutral, and tolerates dry soil, salt, wind and urban conditions. Leaves yellow with chlorosis in alkaline soil.
- Flowers
- Inconspicuous yellow green flowers bloom in the spring.
- Foliage
- Simple, alternate, dark green glossy star shaped leaves with five points; fall colour is unpredictable, running yellow, orange, red and burgundy.
- Fruit
- Small round woody spiky balls, produced erratically and in much smaller quantities than on the species.
- Bark & stems
- Reddish brown twigs carry corky wings; the dark brown to dark gray bark becomes deeply furrowed as the tree ages.
- Native range
- Species native to eastern North America; this selection was found growing wild in Franklin County, Tennessee
