font settings and languages

Font Size: Large | Normal | Small
Font Face: Verdana | Geneva | Georgia
Languages:

Rhus glabra

(Smooth Sumac)

Overview

[ Back to top ]

One of the easiest shrubs to identify throughout the year, smooth sumac has a spreading , open form growing up to 15 feet tall. Tiny green flowers in the spring are insignificant, but are later replaced by large cones of crimson berries that remain throughout the winter. Leaves are alternate, compound and turn a beautiful scarlet in the fall . Buds are small, covered with brown hair and borne on fat, hairless twigs . Bark on older wood is smooth and grey to brown.

Interesting Facts

[ Back to top ]
 

Common Names

[ Back to top ]

Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Afrikaans:

Gladde Sumak

Common Names in English:

Smooth Sumac, Red Sumac, Scarlet Sumac, Scarlet Sumach, Smooth Sumach, Vinegar-Bush, Vinegar-Tree

Common Names in French:

Sumac Glabre

Description

[ Back to top ]

Genus Rhus

Polygamous or dioecious trees or shrubs , usually sapiferous; sap often irritant. Leaves compound . Flowers small, greenish, in axillary or terminal panicles. Calyx persistent , 4-6-lobed; lobes imbricate. Petals 4-6, spreading . Disk present. Stamens as many as or twice the number of petals; anthers bilocular , imperfect in the female flowers. Ovary unilocular ; styles 3, usually free . Drupe small and dry.

Commonly known as sumacs. A genus of 250 species occurring in the warm temperate and subtropical regions of both the hemispheres. Represented in Pakistan by 7 species, 4 of which are native .[1]

Physical Description

ID Features: No pubescence on stems. Leaf scar encircles buds. Greenish yellow flowers. Red fruit spikes. Alternate pinnately compound leaves. Stout stems.

Habit: A deciduous large shrub or small tree that grows in colonies.

Flowers: Dioecious. Greenish-yellow color. Blooms in late June. Borne in 6" to 10" long panicles, terminal . • Bloom Period: June. • Flower Color: chartreuse, pale green, pale yellow, yellow-green

Seeds: Fruit: Pubescent , red drupe. Terminal panicles. Persists.

Foliage: Summer foliage: Alternate leaf arrangement . Odd-pinnately compound leaves. 12" top 18" long. 11 to 31 leaflets . Lanceolate leaflet shape. Leaflets , 2" to 5" long. Serrated leaf margins. Dark green leaf color. Red rachis. • Fall foliage: Yellow, red or orange fall color. Very showy.

Size/Age/Growth

Growth Rate: Moderate. • Size: 10' to 15' high, equally as wide.

Landscaping

Landscape Uses: Massing or groupings. Highway buffer . Woods edge . Naturalistic areas. Bank covers . • Liabilities: Verticillium Wilt. Aphids, scales , rusts and mites .

Habitat

Hardy to zone 3.

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 2,998 meters (0 to 9,836 feet).[2]

Biology

[ Back to top ]

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Easily transplanted. Soil adaptable. Suckers . Full sun to partial shade.

Soil: Minimum pH: 6.1 • Maximum pH: 7.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade.

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b. (map)

Taxonomy

[ Back to top ]

Synonyms

Rhus calophylla Greene • Rhus glabra var. laciniata Carr. • Rhus glabra var. occidentalis Torr.

Notes

Publishing author : L.

Similar Species

[ Back to top ]

Members of the genus Rhus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 46 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

R. aromatica (Fragrant Sumac) · R. aromatica var. arenaria (Fragrant Sumac) · R. aromatica var. aromatica (Fragrant Sumac) · R. aromatica var. serotina (Fragrant Sumac) · R. aromatica 'Gro-low' (Gro-Low Fragrant Sumac) · R. aromatica 'Grow-Low' (Fragrant Sumac) · R. aromatica 'Konza' (Konza Fragrant Sumac) · R. ashei (Ash's Sumac) · R. chinensis (Chinese Sumac) · R. copallina (Dwarf Sumac) · R. copallina copallina (Mountain Sumach) · R. copallina leucantha (Southern Sumac) · R. copallinum (Flameleaf Sumac) · R. copallinum var. copallinum (Flameleaf Sumac) · R. copallinum var. latifolia (Winged Sumac) · R. copallinum var. leucantha (Winged Sumac) · R. coriaria (Elm-Leaved Sumac) · R. crenata (Dune Crowberry) · R. glabra (Smooth Sumac) · R. glabra 'Laciniata' (Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac) · R. glauca (Gray-Green Taaibos) · R. hirta (Staghorn Sumac) · R. integrifolia (Lemonade Berry) · R. kearneyi (Desert Sumac) · R. lancea (African Sumac) · R. lanceolata (Prairie Sumac) · R. lentii (Pink Flowering Sumac) · R. michauxii (False Poison Sumac) · R. microphylla (Littleleaf Sumac) · R. ovata (Chapparal Sumac) · R. pendulina (River Karee) · R. pulvinata (Pulvinate Sumac) · R. sandwicensis (Neleau) · R. trichocarpa (Japanese Sumac) · R. trilobata (Aromatic Sumac) · R. trilobata var. anisophylla (Smoothleaf Skunkbush) · R. trilobata var. pilosissima (Fragrant Sumacpubescent Skunkbush Sumac) · R. trilobata var. quinata (Grand Canyon Skunkbush) · R. trilobata var. racemulosa (Summer Skunkbush) · R. trilobata var. simplicifolia (Single-Leaf Skunkbush) · R. trilobata var. trilobata (Ill-Scented Sumac) · R. typhina 'Tiger Eyes' (Staghorn Sumac) · R. virens (Evergreen Sumac) · R. virens choriophylla var. choriophylla (Evergreen Sumac) · R. virens var. choriophylla (Evergreen Sumac) · R. virens var. virens (Evergreen Sumac)

More Info

[ Back to top ]

Further Reading

[ Back to top ]

Notes

[ Back to top ]

Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 19, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Yashin J. Nasir "Rhus". in Flora of Pakistan Page 4.. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Mean = 315.650 meters (1,035.597 feet), Standard Deviation = 361.920 based on 1,052 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/14/2012