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DWARF SUMACH. 

 Rhus copallina, Linnaeus. 



FORM A small shrub rarely more than 6-S ft. tall, becomes a tree only in Arkansas and 

 Texas. 



BARK Rather thin, light to reddish-brown, often smooth; on older specimens may peel off 

 Into papery layers, frequently roughened by large, elevated, brownish projections. 



TWIGS At first hairy, somewhat zigzag and greenish-red; later smooth, reddish-brown, and 

 roughened by prominent leaf-scars and large dark-colored lenticels; frequently roughened by large 

 elevated rugosities. 



BUDS Alternate; terminal bud absent; axillary, small, spherical, covered with rusty brown 

 pubescence. 



LEAVES Alternate, compound, 6-12 inches long, with winged petioles and 9-21 leaflets. 

 Leaflets ovate-lanceolate, acute at apex, often unequal and wedge-shaped at base, entire on 

 margin except near apex where a few serrate teeth may be found, usually smooth above and 

 pubescent below. 



LEAF-SCARS Alternate, broadly crescent-shaped to inversely triangular; partly surround buds; 

 contain a few clusters of bundle-scars often occurring in 3s. 



FLOWERS Appear about July. Produced in axillary or terminal panicels. Staminate and 

 pistillate usually occur on different plants. 



FRUIT Matures about 5-6 weeks after flowers. Usually arranged in dense, stout, pubescent, 

 often persistent, red clusters. The individual fruit is spherical, about 4 of an inch across, 

 covered with a hairy red coat and contains a smooth orange-colored seed. 



WOOD Diffuse-porous; soft, coarse-grained, light brown, richly striped with yellow and 

 black. Weight and uses are about the same as the Staghorn Sumach. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS The Dwarf Sumach, also known as Mountain Sumach 

 can be distinguished from our other native species of Sumach by its winged leaf-petioles and its 

 leaflets which are entire-margined except near the apex. Its branches contain a watery Juice 

 while the branches of the Staghorn and Smooth Sumach contain a milky juice. Its branches 

 are smooth while those of the Smooth Sumach are covered with a bloom and those of the 

 Staghorn Sumach with a velvety pubescence. It has neither terminal buds nor white fruit 

 like the Poison Sumach. 



RANGE Maine to Florida, west to Nebraska and Texas. 



DISTRIBUTION IN PENNSYLVANIA Local, often common, throughout the State. 



HABITAT Common on dry hillsides and ridges. Occasional on rich bottomlands. Frequents 

 abandoned fields. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE SPECIES The Dwarf Sumach is merely a shrub east of the Mis- 

 sissippi and consequently of no commercial importance. It may be utilized in landscape gar- 

 dening on account of its dwarf form and attractive autumnal foliage. It reaches tree-size in 

 Arkansas and Texas. 



