Sweet Gum Tree Shedding Bark

Some trees have striking patterns of stripes and flakes and the peeling bark may expose bright yellow or orange colors of the new bark forming underneath.

Sweet gum tree shedding bark. Close up of bark texture on a sweet gum tree a large deciduous tree. Generally attacking weakened or wounded sweet gum trees botryosphaeria kills bark and displays areas of dead tissue referred to as cankers several cankers form on the bark of sweet gum trees resulting in lesions that may become sunken with roughened bark that peels from the tree. Peeling tree bark disease. Sweet gum seeds and fruit the seeds and fruit from this tree are one and the same commonly known as gum balls and not the nice kind.

Commonly called sweetgum sweet gum in the uk gum redgum satin walnut or a eucalyptus tree with unique peeling bark layers with whitish under layer and red shedding surface in western australia. Over those years i ve admired this beautiful tree. Hardwood trees that have peeling bark may be suffering from a fungal disease called hypoxylon canker. Its other name sweet gum refers to the resin that is emitted when the tree is damaged which is called styrax and has a pleasant odour.

Peeling bark caused by this disease is accompanied by yellowing and wilting leaves and dying branches. The star shaped foliage is a lush glossy green in summer but the real surprise comes in autumn when a stunning range of glowing reds and oranges engulfs the tree it gets another name the red gum tree from this display. It typically colonizes the sapwood of trees stressed by drought sunburn or. Turkey tail fungus trametes versicolor is found on cut or fallen wood or on wounded areas of living sweet gum trees.

The large spotted gum tree in my little back yard sheds its bark each year and after ten years of living with it i finally learned a valuable life lesson from it. As the bark dries and peels it often forms colorful patches and interesting patterns on the trunk of the tree. The tiny dots on the leaves appear to be some previous feeding damage by an insect. In addition the wood under the peeling bark is covered with a mat of fungus.

If you have one of the non sterile varieties it will shed not only its leaves but also thousands of gum balls. These spiky balls are one reason you might not want to plant sweet gums too close to the house. It is a strong and majestic tree. An australian native corymbia maculata is endemic to the eastern states of australia.

With that amount of peeling if it were a disease then you would probably see branch dieback in the top of the tree.