FAMILY: ANACARDIACEAE

ALTERNATE COMMON NAME:

LEAVES: alternate, pinnately compound; deciduous; 8 to 13 inches; 7 to 13 elliptic to ovate leaflets; rachis pale to bright red

FLOWER: inconspicuous greenish, in long drooping clusters; early summer

FRUIT: white drupe, 1/2 inch diameter; on open, drooping panicle

TWIGS: stout, smooth, reddish; lack lenticels

BARK: gray to brown; smooth with fissures; prominent lenticels; sap turns black when exposed to air

FORM: shrub or small tree; 25 ft, 2 inch diameter

HABITAT: wet sites along streams

WETLAND DESIGNATION: Obligate Wetland (OBL): Almost always occurs in wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region

RANGE: eastern US

USES: dermatitis; keeps neighbors at bay; birds and small mammals eat seed

Best Recognition Features:

1. alternate, pinnately compound, red rachis
2. open fruit cluster
3. black sap on trunk
4. smooth twigs lacking lenticels

NOTES: causes severe skin inflammation; smoke from burning plants is poisonous, also; avoid trees and shrubs with pinnately compound, alternate leaves, in wet areas