Smooth sumac – Rhus glabra

Pronunciation: roos glay'-bra

Leaf: Pinnately compound, 12 - 18 inches long. Leaflets: 9 - 31, 2 - 5 inches long, toothed all the way around, round base widest at the base, long tapered tip. Dark green above, finely hairy below, enlarged at base to encircle bud.

Bud: Covered in light brown hairs, nearly encircled or surrounded by leaf scar.

Leaf Scar: U-shaped.

Stem: Stout, round, smooth lacking hairs and often with a bluish glaucous bloom, over ½ inch thick, very small lenticels. No line encircling stem at scar.

Bark: Brown-gray and smooth, with numerous lenticels, developing scaly ridges with age.

Pith: Large, consumes most of the diameter of the stem. Brownish-yellow.

Flower: Male: yellowish-red. Female: red. On separate plants.

Fruit: Red, long, hairy spike-like, terminal upright clusters. A small (1/8 inch) reddish, round, finely hairy drupe borne in dense upright cluster. The panicles typically droop when mature in the fall and persist into winter.

Habit: 15 to 20 feet tall. Open branching, resembling the horns of a male deer. Suckers.

Culture: Low moisture requirement.

Looks like: shining sumac - staghorn sumac - tree-of-Heaven - poison sumac

Rhus glabra - smooth sumac Latin name from Greek name for sumac "rhous" from Greek "reo" (to flow)/glabrous (lacking hair).

Native Plants for the Intermountain West