This plant's name liquidamber was first given Linnaeus in 1753 from the Latin liquidus and the Arab ambar, amber, an allusion to the fragrant terebinthine juice or gum which exudes from the tree. It's specific epithet styriciflua is an old generic name meaning glowing with styrax, a plant resin. The names "storax" and "styrax" have long been confusingly applied to the aromatic gun or resin of this species, that of L. orientali of Turkey, and to the resin better known as benzoin resin in the various tropical trees in the gums styrax.
Sweetgum is one of the most common hardwoods in the southeastern United States, where it occurs naturally at low to moderate altitudes from southwestern Connecticut south to central Florida and west to Illinois, southern Missouri and eastern Texas.