Smooth sumac

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Smooth sumac leaves in autumn

Smooth sumac

Smooth sumac bud

Smooth sumac flowers

Smooth sumac

Smooth sumac fruiting

Smooth sumac fruit

Smooth sumac fruit

Smooth sumac in fruit

Smooth sumac inflorescence and leaf

Smooth sumac inflorescence

Smooth sumac fruit

Smooth sumac flowers

Smoot sumac bud

Smooth sumac in fruit

Smooth sumac fruit

Smooth sumac fruit

Smooth sumac fruit

Smooth sumac flowering habit

Smooth sumac buds

Morphology

Trunk

Erect, rigid, glabrous, with raised air pores, somewhat waxy, reddish purple when young, grayish when mature, forming dense thickets.

Twigs

Reddish brown, glabrous, glaucous, brittle; leaf scars U-shaped; buds tan or gray, ovoid, .12 to .2 inch, scales densely tomentose.

Leaves

Alternate, stalked, 12 to 20 inches long, odd-pinnately compound; leaflets 11-31, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 2.5 to 4 inches long, .75 to 1.25 inch wide, dark green and glossy above, whitish below; margins coarsely toothed; tips pointed.

Flowers

Inflorescences terminal, panicles, dense, pyramid-shaped, 4 to 10 inches long, 50-300-flowered. Flowers staminate, pistillate, and bisexual; staminate flowers small, yellowish green; calyces 5-parted, petals 5, distinct, ovate; stamens 5, anthers yellow; pistillate flowers similar, in smaller clusters, more densely flowered; stigmas yellowish.

Fruit

Drupes, spherical, crimson to red, pubescent, .14 to .16 inch in diameter, in erect clusters 4 to 6 inches tall; seeds smooth, yellowish.

Ecology

Habitat

Dry upland prairies, roadsides, waste areas, and edges of woods.

Distribution

Throughout Kansas.

Practical Information

Uses

Sumac thickets provide shelter for wildlife. Deer and sheep sometimes consume the leaves. Native Americans used the drupes medicinally to treat sunburn and sores and to make red and black dyes; the flowers to treat sore mouths; the roots to treat sore throats and to make a yellow dye; and sometimes smoked the dried red leaves.

Additional Notes