Fragrant sumac

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Fragrant sumac bud

Fragrant sumac

Fragrant sumac habit

Fragrant sumac fruit

Fragrant sumac catkins

Fragrant sumac

Fragrant sumac

Fragrant sumac fruit

Fragrant sumac fruit

Fragrant sumac bud

Fragrant sumac bud

Fragrant sumac inflorescence

Fragrant sumac bark

Fragrant sumac catkins

Fragrant sumac inflorescence

Fragrant sumac flowers and leaflets

Fragrant sumac leaves

Morphology

Trunk

Many stems from single base; branches ascending; bark dark reddish-brown, smooth or with shallow fissures.

Twigs

Reddish brown to grayish brown, glabrous or pubescent, flexible; leaf scars U-shaped; buds concealed bt petiole bases. .04 to .06 inch.

Leaves

Alternate, stalked, 3-foliolate, 1 to 3 inches long, 1.2 to 2.8 inches wide, yellowish-green to bluish-green, glabrous to sparsely hairy on lower surface; leaflets variable, nearly sessile, egg-shaped to rhomboid; margins scalloped or with rounded teeth; terminal leaflet largest, fan-shaped, 3-7-lobed; tips rounded or blunt.

Flowers

Inflorescences terminal, head-like or irregular clusters of small flowers, .8 to 2.4 inches long, .4 to 1.6 inch wide. Staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants or with some perfect flowers; flowers less than 1/10 inch broad, pale yellow; stalks short; sepals 5, united at base, reddish brown; petals 5, distinct, yellow, usually hairy on inner surface; stamens 5; anthers small, yellow. The flowers open before the leaves or with the unfolding leaves.

Fruit

Drupes appearing in June and July, spherical, 1/5 to 1/4 inch in diameter, bright red, densely long-hairy, containing single nutlet; nutlet oval or bean-shaped, about 1/6 inch long, smooth, reddish-brown.

Ecology

Habitat

Prairie ravines, rocky wooded hillsides, glades; sandy or gravelly soils.

Distribution

Throughout Kansas.

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans applied a poultice of the roots to boils and mixed the leaves with tobacco to smoke. The leaves were also used in treatments of colds. The fruits were used to treat toothaches and the flu. During the winter, small mammals, turkeys, grouse, robins, and flickers eat the seeds and rabbits and mice eat the bark. The thickets provide wildlife cover.

Additional Notes