Rhus typhina L.
staghorn sumac
Deciduous shrub or small tree to c. 8 m high, often suckering extensively. Branchlets villous. Lvs pinnate, with 19-23 leaflets in mature plants, up to c. 30 cm long; petiole and rachis villous or densely hairy, the hairs purple when young. Leaflets sessile, 4-12 × 0.8-2.5 cm, oblong-lanceolate (terminal leaflet ± ovate), glabrate except for densely hairy midrib below, glaucous below, dull green above, serrate, acuminate at apex, becoming orange to crimson in autumn. Infl. terminal, villous, dense and conelike, to c. 20 × 5 cm. Fls greenish. Calyx segments lanceolate, long-ciliate. Petals 2-2.5 mm long. Fr. c. 3 mm wide, broader than long, villous with long rose to crimson hairs.
N.: Hutt Valley; S.: Christchurch area.
E. North America 1958
Spreading by suckering in the vicinity of gardens, by roadsides, and in waste places.
FL Oct-Nov.
Staghorn sumac or sumac is commonly cultivated, particularly in the South Id, for its crimson cone-like infructescence and coloured autumn lvs.
