I'm trying to find out how long a Liquidambar Styraciflua (American Sweetgum) will live - on average. I've tried a few Horticulture sites - no luck yet. Do they live for 100's of years (in Native Southeastern USA)? I have one in my yard here in Nanaimo. Gary
In cultivation in Britain, it isn't particularly long-lived, few if any much over 150 years (it was introduced in 1651, so there's plenty of opportunity for older trees if they did live longer). Seems to be rather liable to windblow.
If it helps any, the sweet gums I planted as seedlings, not saplings, are 26 years old and still rather young in appearance. The trees that provided the seed are also still alive, and probably were at least as big as mine, making them 50 years plus. I do not see any that rival in girth the live oaks of this region. I am certain I have a reference somewhere that gives the anticipated life span of certain trees, but it's not in any of the half dozen books I've just checked.
Yeah, one of my US tree books mentions longevity for most trees . . . but for Sweetgum . . a blank! Perhaps worth adding that BC's climate is more like Britain than the climate where Sweetgum is native, so the British data is probably quite relevant.
