Bailey & Bailey: Woody Plants of National Parks 



155 



found. They used the stems to furnish a mordant in dye-making. The long 

 slender reddish shoots of R. trilobata were gathered by the women for basket- 

 making. Hence this species is sometmies called squawbush. The leaves of 

 smooth sumac were mixed with tobacco for smoking. 



Field Guide to the Species 



Leaves 3-Iobed or divided into 3 leaflets, about I inch long 1. R. trilobata. 



Leaves divided into 5 to 10 pairs of leaflets, the leaflets 2 to 4 inches long. 



Branchlets smooth, with a whitish bloom; flower clusters finely hairy; fruits 



sticky-hairy 2. R. glabra. 



Branchlets, flower clusters, and fruits densely hairy 3. R. t]jphina. 



I. Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus 

 trilobata Nutt.), fig. 88. — Spreading 

 shrub 1 to 5 feet high, the herbage 

 with a disagreeable odor when 

 crushed; leaves thickish, dark green 

 above, paler below, mostly divided 

 into 3 leaflets; leaflets oval or re- 

 verse-egg-shaped to wedge-shaped, 

 1/3 to 1 1/3 inches long, the middle 

 leaflet usually longer than the lateral 

 leaflets, few-toothed with coarse 

 rounded teeth; flowers yellow, small, 

 borne close together in stiff clusters 

 at the ends of the stems before the 

 leaves appear; fruits bright orange- 

 red, about y^ inch in diameter, 

 somewhat flattened, sticky-hairy. 

 (Syn. Rhus utahensis Goodd.). 



Fig. 88. Skunkbush sumac (Rhus 

 trilobata). 



Occurrence. — yosem:te, occasional, up 

 to 4,000 feet; Yosemiie Valley; Mirror 

 Lake; Tenaya Canyon. SEQUOIA: Cedar Creek; North Fork Kaweah River. YELLOW- 

 STONE, common: Boiling River; Gardiner River; Mammoth; Red Mountain; "Whiskey 

 Gap; near Table Mountain. ROCKY mountain, rare. MESA VERDE, occasional in the 

 canyons: trail to Balcony House; "Wickiup Canyon. BRYCE CANYON, occasional, 6,000 

 to 7,000 feet. ZION, occasional: lower walls of Zion Canyon near west entrance; near 

 entrance to Zion Cafeteria. GRAND CANYON, common in the canyon, 3,500 to 6,000 

 feet: Hermit trail; Bright Angel trail; Indian Gardens; Kaibab trail; Cedar Ridge; 

 near Roaring Springs. 



2. Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra L.).— Erect shrub 3 to 6 feet high 

 with smooth often reddish branches; leaves 6 to 8 inches long, divided into 5 

 to 10 pairs of leaflets; leaflets 2 to 4 inches long, narrowly oblong with pointed 

 tips, the margins mostly toothed; flowers greenish or yellowish, borne in dense 

 narrowly pyramid-shaped clusters 3 to 4 inches long; fruits small, rounded, 

 bright red, sticky-hairy, the fruiting clusters standing up like fiery pokers at 

 the ends of the stems. (Syn. Rhus cismontana Greene.) 



Occurrence. — ziON, rare in Zion Canyon: near Weeping Rock; Court of the 



