Anacardiaceae

Sumac Family

Sumacs

FAMILY: Sumac family (Anacardiaceae) – Rhus genus.

SPECIES: #1 skunkbush, skunkberry, or squawberry (Rhus aromatica Aiton = Rhus trilobata Nutt.). #2 scarlet or smooth sumac (Rhus glabra L.). #3 desert or littleleaf sumac (Rhus microphylla Engelm. ex A. Gray). #4 sugarbush, sugarberry, or sugar sumac (Rhus ovata S. Watson). #5 evergreen sumac (Rhus virens Lindh. ex A. Gray var. choriophylla (Wooton & Standley) L. D. Benson = Rhus choriophylla Wooton & Standley).

TO UTILIZE AS FOOD: Warning! Unprocessed fruits (drupes) of species listed above have irritating hairs that can pierce soft tissue and cause a burning sensation lasting for several hours. This problem is easily overcome by preparing the fruits as a beverage. The fruits should be red to reddish-brown and hairy. Sumacs bearing white, hairless fruits are poisonous. Distinguishing these groups is easy when the mature fruits are present.

All species listed above can be used in a similar way. The fruits are basically just hairy skins covering hard seeds. Fleshy layers are disappointingly thin, but they’re also intensely sweet and tart. Fruits of all species listed above are roughly equivalent in terms of taste, texture, and aroma. Differences are seen primarily in the leaves rather than the fruits. Sumac fruits develop slowly. Gathering is best done soon after the fruits mature. Otherwise, bugs, molds, and diseases claim the fruits. Old fruits turn reddish-brown and taste bland. All the following species, and many other species, were used extensively by Native Americans across the United States and elsewhere as a source of food and for other purposes, especially weaving baskets and other items.

Skunkbush (R. aromatica) fruits are sweet, tart, red, sticky, aromatic, arranged in clusters, and available in mass quantities. They’re good enough to pass as candy fresh off the shrubs. The mouthwatering tartness comes from various acids. Soaking the fruits in cold water for 20-30 minutes produces a fantastic beverage known by many names including: sumac-lemonade, sumac-punch, sumac-ade, and rhus-ade. Soaking 1 part fruit in 2 parts cold water is an ideal ratio for making this beverage. No sugar is needed. Mashing the fruits prior to soaking helps release flavor. Using hot water instead of cold water tends to leach tannins, but the results are still excellent. Surface hairs are firmly attached and generally don’t end up in the beverage. However, filtering the beverage through fine cloth to remove any stray hairs is a wise precaution. Filtering also removes the hard seeds. Skunkbush fruits typically mature from late spring to early summer, but this depends on the weather, the elevation, and the variety. Skunkbush fruits don’t persist for very long, so harvesting them soon after they mature is wise. Native Americans used them to flavor corn, wild game, medicine, and other things. Leaves were used to flavor tobacco, and stems were peeled into strands for making baskets of all types (Johnsgard pp. 61-62). Skunkbush is a useful shrub with a long and colorful history. According to Dunmire and Tierney (1997 pp. 171-172), excavations of ancient Puebloan sites in the Four Corners region showed remains of skunkbush fruits in coprolites dating back two thousand years. Overall, skunkbush has proven itself as an important shrub in the past, and it will continue to be important in the future.

Scarlet sumac (R. glabra) fruits can be used like those of skunkbush fruits described above. Results are essentially the same. Scarlet sumac fruits are small and arranged in dense terminal clusters. Gathering a quantity is easy. Scarlet sumac grows primarily in the eastern United States, but it’s also common in the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico. It blooms in summer and produces fruits in autumn.

Littleleaf sumac (R. microphylla) fruits are densely hairy and the hairs are rather irritating. Other aspects of the fruits are similar to those of skunkbush fruits described above. Littleleaf sumac is common from southeastern Arizona to western Texas. It responds to winter and summer rainfall, so multiple harvests are possible in the same year. Littleleaf sumac consistently produces fruits even when growing conditions are stressful, and withered fruits may persist into late autumn.

Sugarbush (R. ovata) fruits are essentially the same as skunkbush fruits described above. Both can be used in a similar way and mature at about the same time. Hairs on the fruits of both species are short and relatively nonirritating. Gathering a supply of sugarbush fruits is easy because the fruits occur in clusters and hundreds of clusters occur on each shrub. Sugarbush is a valuable resource in southern California and central Arizona, but keep in mind that the fruits often succumb to diseases.

Evergreen sumac (R. virens) fruits are comparable to those of skunkbush described above. Evergreen sumac has roughly the same range as littleleaf sumac, which is southeastern Arizona to western Texas. It likewise responds to rainfall, so multiple harvests are possible in the same year. Periodically checking the shrubs is recommended to determine the best time for gathering. Evergreen sumac is a good resource, but it’s not as reliable or as common as littleleaf sumac.

NOTES: Sumacs provide some of the best fruits in the Southwest. Perhaps no other fruits taste sweeter. These fruits are natural candy, and beverages made from them are as sweet as pop. I still remember the first one I had in the red rock canyons of Sedona. It blew me away. I couldn’t believe that a wild food could taste so good. I knew at that moment that I had found a source of sugar. Additional samples confirmed my initial experience. Eventually, those samples included every southwestern species. Finding all the species was easy, but finding them when the fruits were ready was a bit more challenging. Foraging is about being at the right place at the right time. Sumac fruits take a while to develop. The interval between flowering time and fruiting time is longer than average, and the cycle depends on rainfall patterns. I have no doubt that Native Americans greatly appreciated sumac fruits and that future generations will enjoy these little treasures.

IDENTIFICATION: The Rhus genus is represented by about 15 species in the United States, of which only 5 are well established in the Southwest. Sumacs are shrubs with alternate leaves, ovary superior flowers arranged in clusters, and red drupes covered with sticky hairs. Each flower typically has 5 sepals, 5 white or yellowish petals, 3 styles, and 5 stamens. Nothing else in the Southwest has this combination of features. The styles are often united, thus appearing as one style with 3 lobes. Leaf shapes effectively serve to distinguish the species. Autumn leaf displays may include intense shades of red, orange, and yellow proudly illuminating an otherwise dull landscape.

Similar-looking species of concern: Western poison ivy (Toxicodendron rydbergii) found throughout the West and western poison oak (T. diversilobum) found mainly in California have white berries. Skunkbush (Rhus aromatica) closely resembles western poison oak, so be sure to know the difference: edible sumacs always have red fruits, never white. Western poison ivy is essentially the same as eastern poison ivy (T. radicans), except for being more consistently shrub-like and having thicker leaves that are hairy along the midveins. Poison sumac (T. vernix) only grows in the eastern United States. No other species of the Toxicodendron genus occur in the Southwest.

Description of skunkbush (Rhus aromatica): FORM aromatic shrub about 1-3 meters tall; LEAVES compound with 3 leaflets (or simple in var. simplicifolia); alternate; deciduous; margins with rounded teeth and lobes; FLOWERS regular, typically unisexual with reduced parts of the opposite sex, ovary superior, and arranged in dense head-like clusters; sepals 5; petals 5, free, white or yellow; styles 3; stamens 5; FRUITS drupes globe-shaped; usually red (never white); surfaces covered with sticky hairs; HABITAT low to mid elevations throughout most of the Southwest; blooming March to June. NOTES: Three varieties are currently recognized: #1 Rhus aromatica var. aromatica Aiton (fragrant sumac or skunkbush), #2 Rhus aromatica var. pilosissima (Engler) Shinners (hairy skunkbush), and #3 Rhus aromatica var. simplicifolia (Greene) Cronquist (single-leaf skunkbush). Rhus aromatica has often been called Rhus trilobata, and several more varieties have been described under this former name.

Description of scarlet sumac (Rhus glabra): FORM aromatic, deciduous shrub or tree-like shrub about 2-5 meters tall; LEAVES compound; alternate; rachises not winged; leaflets 9-24, lance-shaped, 4-11 cm long, and not stalked; margins sharply toothed; FLOWERS regular, typically unisexual with reduced parts of the opposite sex, ovary superior, and arranged in large, elongated, terminal clusters; sepals 5; petals 5, free, white or yellowish; styles 3; stamens 5; FRUITS drupes globe-shaped; usually red (never white); surfaces covered with sticky hairs; HABITAT nearly throughout the United States, often along forest roads or mountain streams in the Southwest; blooming in summer.

Description of littleleaf sumac (Rhus microphylla): FORM deciduous, intricately branched shrub about 1-3 meters tall; LEAVES compound; alternate; rachises winged; leaflets 5-9, oval, less than 5 mm long, hairy, not leathery, not shiny, and without stalks; margins smooth; FLOWERS regular, typically unisexual with reduced parts of the opposite sex, ovary superior, and arranged in dense head-like clusters appearing before the leaves; sepals 5; petals 5, free, white or yellowish; styles 3; stamens 5; FRUITS drupes globe-shaped; usually red (never white); surfaces covered with sticky hairs; HABITAT dry hillsides and washes from Texas to Arizona; blooming in spring or summer.

Description of sugarbush (Rhus ovata): FORM aromatic, evergreen shrub or shrub-like tree about 1-4 meters tall; LEAVES simple; alternate; blades rounded to egg-shaped (ovate); margins smooth, never lobed; tips usually pointed; FLOWERS regular, typically unisexual with reduced parts of the opposite sex, ovary superior, and arranged in dense head-like clusters; sepals 5; petals 5, free, white or yellowish; styles 3; stamens 5; FRUITS drupes globe-shaped; usually red (never white); surfaces covered with sticky hairs; HABITAT chaparral communities of central Arizona and southern California; blooming in spring.

Description of evergreen sumac (Rhus virens): FORM aromatic, evergreen shrub about 1-3 meters tall; LEAVES compound; alternate; rachises not winged; leaflets 3-7, lance-shaped, 2-6 cm long, leathery, shiny, hairless, and stalked; margins smooth; FLOWERS regular, typically unisexual with reduced parts of the opposite sex, ovary superior, and arranged in dense head-like clusters appearing after the leaves; sepals 5; petals 5, free, white or yellowish; styles 3; stamens 5; FRUITS drupes globe-shaped; usually red (never white); surfaces covered with sticky hairs; HABITAT hillsides, washes, and mesas from Texas to Arizona; often with mesquite, juniper, and pinyon; blooming in spring or summer. NOTES: Southwestern shrubs belong to the choriophylla variety.

REFERENCES: #1 skunkbush (Rhus aromatica = Rhus trilobata): fruits Couplan (pp. 303-305), Ebeling (p. 838), and Moerman (pp. 215-216). #2 scarlet sumac (Rhus glabra): fruits Moerman (p. 214). #3 littleleaf sumac (Rhus microphylla): fruits Couplan (pp. 303-305), Ebeling (p. 838), and Moerman (p. 214). #4 sugarbush (Rhus ovata): fruits Couplan (pp. 303-305), Ebeling (p. 838), and Moerman (pp. 214-215). #5 evergreen sumac (Rhus virens var. choriophylla = Rhus choriophylla): fruits Couplan (pp. 303-305).