Trees of New York Siate 281 



ANACARDIACEAE 



Rhus glabra L. 



Smooth Sumach 



Habit — Usually a low, spreading shrub, propagating by means of root-suckers 

 and often forming extensive thickets, occasionally becoming a small tree 

 20-25 feet in height uath a short trunk 4-5 inches in diameter which 

 divides 3-4 feet above the ground into a number of stout, ascending 

 branches to form a broad, flat-topped crown. 



Leaves — Alternate, odd-pinnately compound, 1-3 feet long, consisting of 

 11-31 nearly sessile leaflets arranged suboppositely or alternately along 

 a smooth, stout, reddish rachis. Leaflets lanceolate-oblong, 2-5 inches 

 long, acute at the apex, rounded and somewhat inequilateral at the base, 

 sharply and remotely serrate, at maturity dark green and glabrous above, 

 pale glaucous beneath. 



Flowers — Appearing in June or July after the leaves, dioecious, yellowish 

 green, borne in terminal panicles 5-12 inches long, the staminate panicles 

 more open and larger than the pistillate. Calyx 5-lobed, the lobes ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute, somewhat pubescent ■^^ithout, longest in the pistillate 

 flowers. Petals ovate, acute, yellowish green. Stamens 5, inserted on the 

 margin of the conspicuous disk, shorter than the petals. Pistil consisting 

 of an ovoid, pubescent ovary surmounted by 3 short styles and capitate 

 stigmas. 



Fruit — A depressed-globular, crimson drupe, about i/4 of an inch in diameter, 

 covered with short, close, acidulous pubescence, borne in rather open, nar- 

 row panicles, persisting on the tree into the winter and following spring. 

 Pit ovoid, orange-brown, smooth. 



Winter characters — Twigs very stout, lenticellate, pale bronze, usually glau- 

 cous and in part covered with a grayish, evanescent skin exuding a milky 

 juice when broken, usually winter-killing through several nodes. Pith 

 large, orange-colored, homogeneous. Terminal bud absent. Lateral bud 

 conical, obtuse, densely covered with pale brown tomentum, nearly sur- 

 rounded by the leaf -scar. Mature bark thin, gray, quite smooth. 



Habitat — On a variety of sites and soils in open pastures, on hillsides and on 

 waste ground, seeming to prefer well-drained situations, often forming 

 thickets of considerable extent. 



Range — Nova Scotia westward through Ontario to Minnesota, south to 

 Florida and Louisiana. Zones A, B, and C. 



Uses — The importance of this species lies in its use as an ornamental shrub. 

 In New York State it is numbered among the best for mass planting. A 

 cut-leaved form^ var. laciniata, is widely propagated for the same purpose. 



