52C XKW EXGLAXD TREKS IX WIXTKR, 



STAGHORN SUMACH 



Rhus typhina L. 



R. hirta (L.) Sudw. 



(Lefthand twig" and lower habit picture in plate) 



HABIT — A shrub or small tree rarely over 27i ft. in heig:ht with a 

 trunk diamt-ter less than a foot; making- a straggling- gruwth with 

 forked branching forming a flat head T\'ith conspicucuis red fruit clusters 

 generally present and stout velvety branchlets; sprouting abundantly 

 from the roots and thus forming broad thickets. 



BARK — Thin, dark brown, smooth or in older trees more or less 

 rough-scaly. 



T'W^IGS — Ptout. crnspirnously covered with long velvety olive brown 

 to almost black hairs, whence the cunmon name from resemlnlance to 

 a stag's antlers in the "velvet"; the tips often killed back several 

 inches hy the frost; cut tT^ig exuding a copious "U'hite milky juice. 

 LEXTICELP — conspicuous except as covered by the hairs, orange 

 colored, beriiming laterally enlarged rough dots on older growth, PITH 

 — w i d e . y e 1 1 <:a^" i s h - b r o w n . 



LEAF-SCARS — Alternate, more than 2-ranked. deeplv V-shaped, 

 almost emireling the bud. STIPULE-SCAPiS^absent. BUXDLE-SCARS 

 — scattered or frequently arranged in 3 groups, generally not con- 

 spicuous. 



BVDS — Terminal buds absent, lateral buds conical, densely coated 

 with long rusty hairs. 



FRriT — In rather compact, erect, cone-like clusters; individual fruits, 

 drupes about 4 mm. in diameter coated with acid-tasting red hairs and 

 enclosing a small bony-covered seed. The conspicuous red fruiting 

 clusters are persistent throughout the "n-inter but, since the species 

 tends to be dioecious, are not borne by all trees. 



CO^rPARISOXS — A somewhat smaller form, the Smooth Sumach 

 llihus glob) a L.]. closelj' resembles the Stagliorn Sumach in habit, twig 

 and fruit characters but the twigs are smooth (except the fruit stalks 

 which may be downy) and g-enerally are covered with a bloom. (See 

 twig on right and upper habit picture in plate.) The Dwarf Sumach. 

 [Rhus copaUina L.]. is generally smaller in New England than the 

 other Sumachs. It has red fruit clusters like the Smooth and the 

 Staghorn Sumachs but is distinguished from these two forms by the 

 watery instead of white milky juire, by the leaf-scars which do not 

 surround the bud and by the turpentine flavor to the young- twigs. For 

 comparison with the Poison Sumach see latter species. 



DISTRIBUTIOX — In widely varying soils and loralities. river banks, 

 rocky slopes to an altitude of 2.000 ft., cellar holes and waste places 

 generally, often forming copses. From No\'a Scotia to Lake Huron ; 

 south to Georgia; west to Minnesota and Missouri. 



IX XEW EXGLAXD— Common throughout. 



AVOOD — Light, brittle, soft, coarse-.grained. orange-colored, streaked 

 with green, with thick nearly white sap wood. Pipes for drawing the 

 sap of the Sugar Maple are made fr^m the \uung shoots. The bark 

 especiall\- of the roots is rich in tannin. 



