smooth sumac

Photo: Eric Hunt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Survives zone 3 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Sumac — a souring SPICE (lemony), not a dessert fruit. ⚠ Know your sumac: red upright fruit clusters are Rhus and safe; poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix) has drooping white fruit and causes severe dermatitis.

Hardiness

Zone 3–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Late summer–autumn

Mature size

Suckering shrub 1–5 m, thicket-forming; poor in containers

Light

Full sun; tolerates partial

Soil pH

6.0–7.5

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Across North America — Maine west to British Columbia, south to Florida and northern Mexico; the only shrub or tree species native to all 48 contiguous states. Prairies, old fields, clearings, roadsides and railway banks.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

3–5 yrs

Growth speed

30–60 cm/year — fast, and faster sideways than upward once suckering starts.

Spacing

200 cm (79 in) apart — about 4 m² (43 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate, odd-pinnate, 30–50 cm long with 11–31 toothed lanceolate leaflets, whitish beneath; the twigs are completely hairless with a waxy blue bloom — the 'smooth' that separates it at a touch from staghorn sumac.

Root system

Shallow and strongly rhizomatous — rhizomes on smooth sumac have been traced to 3.4 m (11 ft), each throwing up numerous shoots — so a single plant becomes a clonal thicket. Excellent for holding banks; a nuisance in a small border.

Fruit description

Erect pyramidal clusters of small red drupes covered in short sticky hairs, sharply acid; they persist through winter and are used the same way as staghorn sumac for a tart drink.

Propagation

Root cuttings and division of suckers in early spring are much the easiest routes and come true. Seed has a hard coat needing scarification (hot water or acid) followed by cold stratification, and germinates erratically without it.

Pollination

Dioecious/polygamous — usually needs male + female

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.