Both the scientific and common names refer to the sweet resinous sap (liquid amber) exuded by the trunk when cut.

They are all large, deciduous trees, 25–40 m (82–131 ft) tall, with palmately 3- to 7-lobed leaves arranged spirally on the stems and length of 12.5 to 20 centimetres (4.9 to 7.9 in), having a pleasant aroma when crushed.

Species within this genus are native to Southeast and east Asia, the western Mediterranean, and eastern North America.

[1] Countries and regions in which they occur are: Indonesia (Nusa Tenggara, Java, Sumatra); Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia); Thailand; Cambodia; Vietnam; China (including Tibet, Fujian, Guizhou, Hainan, Yunnan, Zhejiang), Taiwan, South Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Bhutan, Turkey, Greece (Rhodes), Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, and the eastern United States (from Texas to Connecticut).

[5] The genus was much more widespread in the Tertiary, but has disappeared from Europe due to extensive glaciation in the north and the east–west oriented Alps and Pyrenees, which have served as a blockade against southward migration.

It has also disappeared from western North America due to climate change, and also from the unglaciated (but nowadays too cold) Russian Far East.

[7] In Louisiana folklore, a sharpened stick from this tree can be used to wound a cryptid known as the Parlangua (a hybrid of man and alligator).