Scientific Name, Family: Rhus hirta, typhina (like cattail plant)
Common Names: Staghorn Sumac, Velvet Sumac, Fuzzy Sumac, Hairy Sumac
Native or invasive: Native to woodland edges, roadsides, railroad embankments and stream/swamp margins from Quebec to Ontario to Minnesota south to Georgia, Indiana and Iowa.
Deciduous or Evergreen: Deciduous
Image of the tree you are viewing: GPS Longtitude 0.00323 Latitude 0.90226
Condition and age guess of the tree you are viewing:
Branch Structure: This is an open, spreading shrub (sometimes a small tree) that typically grows 15-25’ tall. It is particularly noted for the reddish-brown hairs that cover the young branchlets in somewhat the same way that velvet covers the horns of a stag (male deer), hence the common name.
Typical height and width at maturity: 15-25 ft tall by 20-30 ft wide
Typical longevity: 50-100 years
Soil, water, sunlight preferences: Easily grown in average, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Tolerant of a wide range of soils except for those that are poorly drained. Generally tolerant of urban conditions. This is a suckering shrub that will form thickets in the wild via self-seeding and root suckering.
Growth habit of roots: Has a lateral root system that spreads outward three or more feet per year, reaching depths of about 10 inches. The root system is meandering, sending out rootlets and shoots from underground nodes to form clumps or colonies. Cutting or fire injury encourages sprouting.
Images of trunk bark at early stage and mature stage:
Images of mature tree: winter and summer
Image of leaf or leaves on a 12 x 12 inch grid: Large, compound, odd-pinnate leaves (each to 24” long) are bright green above during the growing season and glaucous beneath. Leaves turn attractive shades of yellow/orange/red in autumn. Each leaf has 13-27 toothed, lanceolate-oblong leaflets (each to 2-5” long).
Image of leaf or leaves in fall colors:
Flower Details: It is also noted for its ornamental fruiting clusters and excellent fall foliage color. Tiny, greenish-yellow flowers bloom in terminal cone-shaped panicles in late spring to early summer (June-July), with male and female flower cones primarily occurring on separate plants (dioecious). Female flowers produce showy pyramidal fruiting clusters (to 8” long), with each cluster containing numerous hairy, berry-like drupes which ripen bright red in autumn, gradually turning dark red as they persist through much of the winter.
Typical Pollination Mechanism: Bees, wasps, and beetles are strongly attracted to the flowers.
Images of flowers (one or two images)
Images of fruit: Fruits are fuzzy, bright red to brownish-red, 1-seeded drupes (like a cherry or peach) about 4 millimeters (1/6 inches) across.
Value for wildlife: Fruit is attractive to wildlife. Bees, wasps, and beetles are strongly attracted to the flowers. Some bird and small mammal species eat the fruits.
Utility for Humans: Best for dry, informal, naturalized areas where it can be allowed to spread and form colonies. Effective when massed on slopes for erosion control or in hard-to-cover areas with poorer soils. Naturalize in open woodland areas, wood margins or wild areas. Has some nice ornamental features (flower panicles in spring, shiny dark green summer foliage, fruiting clusters in fall and excellent fall foliage color), but is probably too weedy and aggressive for shrub borders or foundations.
Traditional uses in Native American Tree Medicine (historical):
Links to related interesting information: audio file link
Homeowner’s Corner: No serious insect or disease problems. Some susceptibility to leaf spots, rusts, powdery mildew, blister and cankers. Scale, aphids and caterpillars may appear. Watch for mites. May spread aggressively by root suckers.