Edit Plant: Rhus trilobata

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'''''Rhus trilobata''''' is a shrub in the [[sumac]] genus (''Rhus'') with the [[common name]]s '''sourberry''', '''skunkbush''', and '''three-leaf sumac'''. It is native to the western half of Canada and the United States and extends south into northern Mexico. It can be found from deserts to mountain peaks up to about 7,000 feet in elevation. This species closely resembles other members of the genus that have leaves with three "leaflets" ("trifoliate" leaves). These include ''[[Rhus aromatica]]'', native to eastern North America, and [[western Poison-oak]]. The shape of the leaflets and the habit of the shrub make this species, like some other ''Rhus'', resemble small-leafed oaks (''[[Quercus]]''). The leaves have a very strong scent when crushed. The aroma is medicinal or bitter, disagreeable enough to some to have gained the plant the name skunkbush. The leaves are green when new and turn orange and brown in the fall. The twigs are fuzzy when new, and turn sleek with age. The flowers, borne on small catkins ("short shoots"), are white or light yellow. Edible fruit, the plant yields hairy and slightly sticky red berries which have an aroma similar to limes and a very sour taste. The acidity comes from [[tannic acid|tannic]] and [[gallic acid]]s. The flowers are animal-pollinated and the seeds are dispersed by animals that eat the berries. The shrub also reproduces vegetatively, sending up sprouts several meters away and forming thickets. Skunkbush sumac grows in many types of plant communities, such as the grasslands east of the [[Rocky Mountains]], mountainous shrubland, pine, juniper, and fir forests, wetlands, [[California chaparral and woodlands|oak woodlands, and chaparral]]. The plant is destroyed above ground but rarely killed by [[wildfire]], and will readily sprout back up in burned areas. {{Inc| Rhus trilobata, Nutt. (Schmaltzia trilobata, Small). Skunk-bush. Ill-scented Sumac. Offensive-scented shrub, to 3, rarely to 6 ft. high: lvs. petioled, 1-2 in. long; lfts. sessile or nearly so, oval or obovate, obtuse, crenately toothed, puberulous while young, soon glabrous, the terminal one usually 3-lobed: fls. greenish, in clustered spikes before the lvs.: fr. subglobose, red, hairy, 1/4in. across. Mo. to Wash., Calif., and Texas. }} ==Cultivation== <!--- Type cultivation info below this line, then delete this entire line --> ===Propagation=== <!--- Type propagation info below this line, then delete this entire line --> ===Pests and diseases=== <!--- Type pest/disease info below this line, then delete this entire line --> ==Species== <!-- This section should be renamed Cultivars if it appears on a page for a species (rather than genus), or perhaps Varieties if there is a mix of cultivars, species, hybrids, etc --> ==Gallery== {{photo-sources}}<!-- remove this line if there are already 3 or more photos in the gallery --> <gallery> Image:Upload.png| photo 1 Image:Upload.png| photo 2 Image:Upload.png| photo 3 </gallery> ==References== *[[Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture]], by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963 <!--- xxxxx *Flora: The Gardener's Bible, by Sean Hogan. Global Book Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0881925381 --> <!--- xxxxx *American Horticultural Society: A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, by Christopher Brickell, Judith D. Zuk. 1996. ISBN 0789419432 --> <!--- xxxxx *Sunset National Garden Book. Sunset Books, Inc., 1997. ISBN 0376038608 --> ==External links== *{{wplink}} {{stub}} __NOTOC__

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