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{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = ''Rhus typhina''
| image = Rhty 002 lhp.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| image_caption = Staghorn sumac
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Dicotyledon|Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Sapindales]]
| familia = [[Anacardiaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Rhus]]''
| species = '''''R. typhina'''''
| binomial = ''Rhus typhina''
| binomial_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus|L.]]
}}
'''''Staghorn Sumac''''' (''Rhus typhina'', synonym: ''R. hirta''), is a [[deciduous]] [[shrub]] to small [[tree]] in the [[Anacardiaceae]] or [[Cashew]] family, native to eastern [[North America]], from [[Ontario]] and [[Quebec]] south to northern [[Georgia (U.S. State)|Georgia]] and [[Mississippi]] [1].
It grows to 3-10 m tall, and has alternate, pinnately compound [[leaf|leaves]] 25-55 cm long, each with 9-31 serrate leaflets 6-11 cm long [2]. The leaf petioles and the stems are densely covered in rust-colored hairs.
The [[fruit]] of staghorn sumac is one of the most identifiable characteristics, forming dense clusters of small red [[drupes]] at the terminal end of the branches [2]; the clusters are conic, 10-20 cm long and 4-6 cm broad at the base. The plant flowers from May to July and fruit ripens from June to September. <ref>Forest Service Handbook Number 450 ''Seeds of Woody Plants in the United States''</ref> The foliage turns a brilliant red in autumn. Sumacs are considered some of the best fall foliage around. The fruit has been known to last through winter and into spring.
Staghorn sumac spreads using its seeds, and by spreading [[rhizomes]]. This makes it so the tree forms colonies, with the oldest plants in the center, and the younger plants radiating out [2]. It grows quite aggressively.
== Cultivation and uses ==
Staghorn sumac grows in gardens, lawns, the edges of forests, and wasteland. It can grow under a wide array of conditions, but is most often found in dry and poor soil on which other plants cannot survive [2].
The fruit of sumacs can be collected, soaked and washed in cold water, strained, sweetened and made into a good pink [[lemonade]] [3]. The leaves and berries of staghorn sumac have been mixed with [[tobacco]] and other herbs and smoked by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribes [4]. This practice continues to a small degree to this day [4].
The [[cultivar]] 'Laciniata', '''Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac''', is grown in [[garden]]s as an ornamental plant.
==Photographs==
<Gallery>
Image:RhusMALE297007.jpg|Male flower cluster
Image:RhusMALEdot027.jpg|Ripening drupes on June 11, 2007
Image:RhusMALEdotDRY.jpg|Dried "male" flower cluster on June 22, 2007
Image:Sumac1222.jpg|Fall colors
</Gallery>
== References ==
{{commons|Rhus typhina}}
{{wikispecies|Rhus typhina}}
*[1] [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?31720 Germplasm Resources Information Network: ''Rhus typhina'']
*[2] Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal and Joseph M. Ditomaso, ''Weeds of The Northeast'', (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997), Pp. 326-327.
*[3] Lee Allen Peterson, ''Edible Wild Plants'', (New York City: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977), P. 186.
*[4] [http://www.cowasuck.org/lifestyle/pipes.htm Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People: The People of the White Pines: Smoking and Pipes]
*[http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/frame/rhhi2.htm Bioimages: ''Rhus typhina'' (as ''R. hirta'')]
*<references/>
[[Category:Sapindales]]
| color = lightgreen
| name = ''Rhus typhina''
| image = Rhty 002 lhp.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| image_caption = Staghorn sumac
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Dicotyledon|Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Sapindales]]
| familia = [[Anacardiaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Rhus]]''
| species = '''''R. typhina'''''
| binomial = ''Rhus typhina''
| binomial_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus|L.]]
}}
'''''Staghorn Sumac''''' (''Rhus typhina'', synonym: ''R. hirta''), is a [[deciduous]] [[shrub]] to small [[tree]] in the [[Anacardiaceae]] or [[Cashew]] family, native to eastern [[North America]], from [[Ontario]] and [[Quebec]] south to northern [[Georgia (U.S. State)|Georgia]] and [[Mississippi]] [1].
It grows to 3-10 m tall, and has alternate, pinnately compound [[leaf|leaves]] 25-55 cm long, each with 9-31 serrate leaflets 6-11 cm long [2]. The leaf petioles and the stems are densely covered in rust-colored hairs.
The [[fruit]] of staghorn sumac is one of the most identifiable characteristics, forming dense clusters of small red [[drupes]] at the terminal end of the branches [2]; the clusters are conic, 10-20 cm long and 4-6 cm broad at the base. The plant flowers from May to July and fruit ripens from June to September. <ref>Forest Service Handbook Number 450 ''Seeds of Woody Plants in the United States''</ref> The foliage turns a brilliant red in autumn. Sumacs are considered some of the best fall foliage around. The fruit has been known to last through winter and into spring.
Staghorn sumac spreads using its seeds, and by spreading [[rhizomes]]. This makes it so the tree forms colonies, with the oldest plants in the center, and the younger plants radiating out [2]. It grows quite aggressively.
== Cultivation and uses ==
Staghorn sumac grows in gardens, lawns, the edges of forests, and wasteland. It can grow under a wide array of conditions, but is most often found in dry and poor soil on which other plants cannot survive [2].
The fruit of sumacs can be collected, soaked and washed in cold water, strained, sweetened and made into a good pink [[lemonade]] [3]. The leaves and berries of staghorn sumac have been mixed with [[tobacco]] and other herbs and smoked by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribes [4]. This practice continues to a small degree to this day [4].
The [[cultivar]] 'Laciniata', '''Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac''', is grown in [[garden]]s as an ornamental plant.
==Photographs==
<Gallery>
Image:RhusMALE297007.jpg|Male flower cluster
Image:RhusMALEdot027.jpg|Ripening drupes on June 11, 2007
Image:RhusMALEdotDRY.jpg|Dried "male" flower cluster on June 22, 2007
Image:Sumac1222.jpg|Fall colors
</Gallery>
== References ==
{{commons|Rhus typhina}}
{{wikispecies|Rhus typhina}}
*[1] [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?31720 Germplasm Resources Information Network: ''Rhus typhina'']
*[2] Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal and Joseph M. Ditomaso, ''Weeds of The Northeast'', (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997), Pp. 326-327.
*[3] Lee Allen Peterson, ''Edible Wild Plants'', (New York City: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977), P. 186.
*[4] [http://www.cowasuck.org/lifestyle/pipes.htm Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People: The People of the White Pines: Smoking and Pipes]
*[http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/frame/rhhi2.htm Bioimages: ''Rhus typhina'' (as ''R. hirta'')]
*<references/>
[[Category:Sapindales]]
