Other Name: Red Gum.

 Up to 100 feet tall; trunk diameter sometimes more than 3 feet; crown usually pyramidal.

Usually dark gray and broken into scaly ridges.

 Stout, often bordered by corky wings; leaf scars alternate, balf‑elliptical, slightly elevated, with 3 bundle traces.

 Large, shiny, pointed, sometimes sticky to the touch.

 Alternate, simple; blades shaped like 5‑ to 7‑pointed stars, each point toothed along the edge, as much as six inches long and nearly as broad. In the autumn, the leaves turn a variety of colors, from red to yellow to purple.

 Staminate and pistillate on same tree crowded together in rounded clusters, opening at about the same time as the leaves unfold.

 Dry "ball" about one inch in diameter, covered by numerous short, often sharp projections, with many seeds, most of which are incapable of germinating. 

 Bottomland woods.

 planted along park drive near Lake House 

The star-shaped leaves and spikes on fruits 

Height:

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Soil pH near study tree:  

  Tree species facts from Robert Mohlenbrock , Forest Trees of Illinois , 1996