Liquidambar styraciflua

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. It’s fun to read scientific names aloud just to keep your tongue limber. Liquidambar styraciflua is our sweetgum tree, which has a stunning fall color but does drop those prickly seed pods. When Conrad was little he called them sweet bumble pods, and they have lots of tiny seeds that birds like goldfinch and small mammals relish. The sap is fragrant and has been used as chewing gum. Sweetgum also gives a glorious display of leaves in the fall. Eryngium yuccifolium is a beautiful native garden deciduous plant with usually white flowers and bluish foliage. And the common name is a treat as well, rattlesnake master, as native people thought you could use it to treat rattlesnake bites. Another name, buttonweed, for the seed pods maybe a better sales pitch.