The buds are egg-shaped, ellipsoid and pointed, shiny, and the margins of the scales are slightly lashed, brown and bare.

Male flowers are in the form of a board, and those on the upper axis of the buds are dense and sessile, and those on the lower side are less frequent.

[citation needed] The forests of this Tertiary relict endemic taxon are found notably within a specially protected area between Dalyan and Köyceğiz in Muğla Province, Turkey, where a 286 ha (710 acres) zone is set aside as a nature reserve and arboretum for the preservation of the species.

Another sweetgum forest area of 88.5 ha (219 acres) under protection is situated in Burdur's district of Bucak alongside Karacaören dam reservoir on the road to Antalya.

[6] The total area of pure sweetgum forests in Turkey covers 1,348 ha (3,330 acres), all in the southwestern regions of the country.

The present-day extension corresponds to a marked decrease since the 1940s level of 6,000–7,000 ha (15,000–17,000 acres), although the protective measures and infrastructure in place since the 1980s helped stop loss of stands and led to slight improvements.

[1] Used as a "love potion" and perfume by the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra in the past, oil (Ancient Greek: στύραξ) has also been used as a medicine since the Hippocratic period.

The harvest of the sap and the preparation of the oil involve quite strenuous tasks lasting from May to November and consisting of several separate phases.

The thick sap is obtained in the period June to September by gradually stripping a quarter of the total trunk lengthwise.

[citation needed] The status of and developments regarding the protection of oriental sweetgum continue to occupy local and national environmental agenda at a critical level in Turkey.

Among the main causes for the loss of sweetgum forests was the cutting and felling of trees for opening new fields for agriculture, as well as the construction of three separate dams at localities that precisely corresponded to important habitats for the species.