Download 50. Sumac - Friess Lake School District

Common Name of Plant: Smooth Sumac
Scientific Name of Plant: Rhus glabra
Average Height of Plant: 3 – 35 feet
Blooming Time: June-July
Ask the Botanist
What are the leaves like?
The alternate leaves are compound with 11-31 leaflets per leaf. Each leaf is 12-24 inches
long and 6-12 inches wide. Each leaflet is oblong with a rounded base and a very pointed tip.
The leaves are sharply toothed on the edges with their dark green sides above and their paler
sides below. The leaves turn scarlet in autumn.
What type of flowers bloom on this plant? What do the seedpods or seeds look like?
The flowers are in dense panicles or spikes 5-30 cm long. Each flower is very small, creamy
white, greenish or red, and has five petals. The fruit form dense clusters or reddish drupes
called sumac bobs.
What is unusual about the stem or trunk?
The branches are smooth and grayish. Sumac also reproduces vegetatively by spreading
roots. Dried sumac wood glows under UV (black) light.
How is this plant important to animals? Has it also been used by people?
Many animals consume various parts of sumac. Indians made lemonade or tea from the
berries. The bark, leaves, and fruit may produce dyes if boiled. A yellow dye, a red dye, and
a black ink can be made from this plant.
What location does this plant prefer?
Sumac is a pioneer shrub or small tree and prefers sun. It is one of the first shrubs to invade
an open space, preparing it for succession to a woodland. Sumac grows in dry, rocky,
gravelly soil.
Pictures
from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yma_Sumac
Whole Plant
Leaf
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Flowers
Seeds
Stem or Tree Bark
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