Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

SMOOTH SUMAC

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Rhus glabra L.

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Height: 2-15 feet

Family: Anacardiaceae - Cashew Family

Flowering Period: May, June

Trunks:

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.

Habitat:

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

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Origin:

Native

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.

Comments:

The fruits appear in August and September and remain through the winter. The leaves turn bright red in the autumn.

Smooth sumac flowers