Knowledgebase

Sweet gum bark issue #825812

Asked April 15, 2023, 7:02 PM EDT

Good evening. I planted 3 sweet gum trees last fall, and when I brought them home from the nursery, I noticed some areas on the bark that at first glance looked like periodic cicada scars. Upon closer inspection, it appears more like something sitting on the bark, and not in the bark like cicada scars would be. I can scrape them off and it appears that normal bark is underneath of them. Do you know what this is? The trees appear to be doing fine, so far. They have all started to leaf out and seem to be OK.

Washington County Maryland

Expert Response

Raised corky "wings" of bark on the stems of Sweetgum is normal for the species, and some individual trees just happen to have more prominent wings than others, likely due to genetics. You can see some examples in the images in the gallery for this species on Maryland Biodiversity Project's web page. We recommend not removing any more bark as this risks injury to the live sapwood underneath (we realize you were just trying to determine what this material was).

Miri
Answered by the Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC), University of Maryland Extension. For timely gardening information and tips, subscribe to our Maryland Grows blog and quarterly newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Replied April 17, 2023, 12:53 PM EDT
Miri,

Thank you for the response.  Wow, that is very interesting!

Thanks again,
Jason

On Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 12:53 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:
The Question Asker Replied April 17, 2023, 6:49 PM EDT
You're welcome.
Answered by the Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC), University of Maryland Extension. For timely gardening information and tips, subscribe to our Maryland Grows blog and quarterly newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Replied April 18, 2023, 9:00 AM EDT

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