winged sumac
Rhus copallinum L.
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Form & Habitat
winged sumac form and habitat
Leaves
winged sumac leaf winged sumac leaf winged sumac leaves winged sumac leaflet & rachis winged sumac leaf: rachis winged sumac leaf: rachis
Twigs
winged sumac twig winged sumac twig winged sumac twig winged sumac twig
Bark
winged sumac bark
Flowers
winged sumac flowers winged sumac flowers
Fruit
winged sumac fruit winged sumac fruit
  • FAMILY: ANACARDIACEAE
  • ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: shining sumac
  • LEAVES: deciduous, alternate, once odd-pinnately compound, 6-12” long, with 9-23 leaflets; rachis leafy-winged; leaflets 1.5-4” long by 0.75-1.3” wide, margins usually entire
  • FLOWER: functionally unisexual, plants dioecious; flowers ca 0.3” broad with 5 spreading greenish-white petals; flowers arranged axillary panicles on the current season’s growth, in some instances many nodes on a new shoot can be inflorescence-bearing, or only one or a few nodes may bear panicles
  • FRUIT: dull red semi-globular to somewhat asymmetric drupe, to ca. 0.2” broad; mature fruiting panicles drooping
  • TWIGS: stout, shaggy-pubescent with tawny hairs when young, pubescence sloughing over time and older twigs glabrous; leaf scars obcordate; pith light brown and continuous; sap watery, clear
  • BARK: thin, smooth, reddish brown, with numerous roundish or horizontally elliptical slightly raised lenticels
  • FORM: colony-forming freely branching shrub or small tree, to ca. 25’ tall
  • HABITAT: edges of mixed woods, old fields, fencerows, roadsides, utility corridors
  • WETLAND DESIGNATION: Obligate Upland (UPL): Almost never occurs in wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
  • RANGE: eastern US [USGS Range Map]
  • USES: ornamental; mature fruits taste like sour lemon and can be steeped to make a lemonade-like beverage
  • WILDLIFE: fruits provide winter sustenance for various birds; moderate whitetail deer browse
    • Best Recognition Features:
    1. shrub to small tree with conspicuous lenticels
    2. once-pinnate leaves with leafy-winged rachis
    3. mature fruiting panicles drooping
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