The Cherokee and other tribes used the resin to calm nervousness. For this it was taken as an infusion (tea). The Cherokee and Choctaw also combined the resin with strawberrybush to make a beverage of unknown appeal, and the resin, when hardened and sticky, was chewed as a gum.
Sweetgum wood is used to make veneer, plywood, cabinets and furniture. The gum from these trees has been used as chewing gum and even employed to concoct medicines and salves to cure a variety of ailments, treat wounds and serve as an important ingredient in adhesives.
The Aztec Indians harvested and used the latex and gums produced from the sapodilla tree. Native Americans taught New England colonists to chew spruce sap, which became the first commercially sold chewing gum.
Cultural and Spiritual Connections
The resilience of the Sweetgum is not just physical but also spiritual, as it embodies the ability to withstand and adapt, making it a fitting participant in rituals that emphasize strength and endurance.
If you're up for some experimenting, sweet gum balls can be used to make a tea from boiling the young green seeds. The resulting decoction is known for its antiviral properties and can be used as a preventative measure against sickness, or as a remedy for the flu (consult your doctor if symptoms persist).
In addition to the sap, the leaves, bark, and seeds of sweetgum also possess beneficial compounds such as shikimic acid, a precursor to the production of oseltamivir phosphate, the active ingredient in Tamiflu®-an antiviral drug effective against several influenza viruses.
Prices vary, but you can get as much as $20 for 100 sweet gum balls. Hopefully, this has given you some ideas on how to make a little extra money, easily maintain a clean yard, and put those sweet gum balls to good use.
Not only does the tree produce massive amounts of the gum balls, but they are notorious for being impossible to compost, mulch, or even rake up in their large quantities. Ridding your property of Sweetgum balls with a lawn vacuum or mower is a challenge.
Fill a glass jar with the broken balls. Add alcohol to the jar to make the tincture. Add 80-120 proof clear alcohol to the jar. Store the jar in a dark place for at least 6 weeks.
Erosion Control: Sweetgum is a good choice as a windbreak tree because of its fast growth and tolerance of a wide variety of sites. Wildlife: Its seeds are eaten by birds, squirrels, and chipmunks. Timber: Sweetgum is primarily used for lumber, veneer, plywood, slack cooperage, railroad ties, fuel and pulpwood.
Natural Toothcare Techniques. Native Americans cleaned their teeth by using chewsticks and chewing on fresh herbs to cleanse their teeth and gums. Chewsticks were twigs that had two uses: one end was frayed by a rock and used for brushing, while the other end was sharpened and used as a tooth pick.
The chewing gum ban was implemented to eradicate problems created by chewing-gum litter in public places like cinemas, parks and common areas of housing estates such as lifts, staircases and corridors, as well as the high costs involved to clean up the litter.
Instead of leaves, Comanches and other Native Americans chewed the tree's bark to dull a throbbing tooth. Warty, knobby spines cover the trunks of older trees — hence its other vernacular names of Hercules' club and prickly ash. Four species of Hercules' club, prickly ash or tickle-tongue range in Texas.
While they're not edible, the balls can double as spiky mulch to keep animals away from young plants. You can even get creative and use them to make holiday trinkets or decorative balls for bowls.
The only edible part of the tree is the dried sap which makes a fragrant, bitter chewing gum. Despite its name the gum is not sweet. It's called Sweet Gum to separate it from a different species altogether, the Black Gum, Nyssa sylvatica, which is extremely sour and bitter.
Black walnuts (Juglans nigra) look like round green tennis balls when they are freshly fallen (butternuts are more “egg” shaped). The rough husks soon turn from green to a very dark brown as they lay on the ground in autumn. Here are just five of the wonderful things you can do with this esteemed native tree.
In traditional North American Indian medicine, the resin and inner bark were used to treat diarrhea, and, topically, as a salve for wounds and skin irritations. Its antiseptic and antibacterial properties are useful in both contexts. The Cherokee and other tribes used the resin to calm nervousness.
Because tinctures are ingested sublingually (under the tongue), people say that they tend to feel effects of tinctures faster. Whereas gummies and edibles, which are metabolized in the digestive system like other foods, the effects can come on slower but tend to last a little longer than tinctures.
Liquidambar styraciflua is a medium-sized to large tree, growing anywhere from 15–20 m (50–70 ft) in cultivation and up to 45 m (150 ft) in the wild, with a trunk up 60–90 cm (2–3 ft) in diameter, on average. Trees may live to 400 years.
Interestingly, sweetgum in one form or another has been used for a large variety of applications. Old- growth red gum was prized and used for furniture, electronic cabinetry, millwork, doors, and paneling where a decorative effect was desired.
In some Native American cultures, sweet gum trees symbolize strength and unity as well as resilience and adaptability due to their ability to thrive in diverse habitats.
sweetgum: Liquidambar styraciflua (Hamamelidales: Hamamelidaceae): Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States.
Sweetgum balls can be run through a chipper for mulch, but should not be composted as they take years to decompose.
In late fall when the bright green seed pods have dried, birds including purple finches, chickadees, Carolina wrens, towhees, titmice, dove and juncos consume the seeds; as do, squirrels and chipmunks. Lastly, if you are not a fan of the Sweetgum balls that litter the ground, consider using them as mulch.
Sweet gum balls make nice Christmas tree ornaments when painted, and they are a pretty decent golf ball substitute for practicing a golf swing. These fruit balls provide food to many species of bird and mammal.