8 BULLETIN" 706, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
TANNIN CONTENT OF AMERICAN SUMAC. 
The leaves and leaf stems together of the three most important 
American sumacs — dwarf, white, and staghorn — when air-dried, 
contain approximately the same amount of tannin — that is, from 25 
to 35 per cent. 1 The leaves of fragrant sumac are said to contain 13 
per cent tannin, of American smoke-tree 21 per cent, and of coral 
sumac 8 per cent. Usually the quantity of tannin appears to be 
somewhat greater later in the season than in June and early July. 
The leaves contain the highest percentage of tannin after they are 
fully grown and before they begin to turn yellow or red. 
Analyses made in the Leather and Paper Laboratory of the Bureau 
of Chemistry of various samples of sumac gathered in Virginia, West 
Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania gave the following results: 
Table 4. — Tannin content of samples of dwarf , white, and staghorn sumac. 
Species. 
Tannin in leaves and leaf 
stems. 
Tannin in stalks. 
Average. 
Maxi- 
mum. 
Mini- 
mum. 
Average. 
Maxi- 
mum. 
Mini- . 
mum. 
Dwarf.... 
Per cent. 
2S.95 
25.14 
27.66 
Per cent. 
35.03 
28.08 
30.59 
Per cent. 
19.46 
21.35 
21.53 
Per cent. 
6^84 
7.07 
Per cent. 
9.94 
7.30 
8.09 
Per cent. 
• 5.09 
6.19 
6.45 
White 
Staghorn 
Dwarf sumac, it will be seen, contains somewhat more tannin than 
staghorn or white sumac. This bears out in a general way the state- 
ment of buyers in eastern Virginia, though this difference is of itself 
not great enough to justify the refusal of the white. ' The sumac 
samples analyzed were found to average 73.3 per cent leaves and 
leaf stems and 26.7 per cent stalks. The variation, however, was 
marked, extending, in the case of the leaves and leaf stems, from 
54 to 89 per cent, and, for the stalks, from 11 to 46 per cent. The 
large proportion of stalks indicated by the percentage last given 
should never be permitted. Gatherers must be careful to break the 
stalk close to the lowest leaf stem, and not to gather the long stalk 
bare of leaves. If the stalks are broken close to the leaf stems, the 
sumac will usually meet the buyers' demands. Dealers and extract 
makers very properly insist that the sumac as delivered shall not 
contain on an average more than 25 per cent of stalks. 
The portions of the plant usually considered of value for tanning 
and dyeing purposes are the leaves and leaf stems, although, as 
shown in Table 4, the stalks contain from 5 to 10 per cent tannin, an 
amount entirety too large to discard after the trouble and expense 
of collecting and hauling to market has been incurred. This tannin 
should be recovered, as an extract could be made from the stalks 
I These figures apply more particularly to Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania sumacs. 
