Sumac

Related Topics:
Sumac,_Yma

Rhus is a genus approximately 250 species of woody shrubs and small trees in the family Anacardiaceae. They are commonly called sumac or sumach. Some species (including Poison ivy, poison-oak, and poison sumac), often placed in this genus, are here treated in the genus Toxicodendron, which differs in highly allergenic foliage and grayish-white fruit but is not genetically distinct. The name derives from the Greek name for sumac, rhous.

The leaves are spirally arranged; they are usually pinnately compound, though some species have trifoliate or simple leaves. The flowers are in dense panicles or spikes 5-30 cm long, each flower very small, creamy white, greenish or red, with five petals. The fruit form dense clusters of reddish drupes.

The genus is found in subtropical and warm temperate regions throughout the world, with the highest diversity in southern Africa.

Cultivation and uses

The hairy covering of the drupes is harvested and used as a spice (a deep red powder with a sour taste) in some Middle Eastern countries, particularly with rice. In North America, the smooth sumac, Rhus glabra, and the staghorn sumac, Rhus typhina, are sometimes used to make a beverage, termed "sumac-ade" or "Indian lemonade" or "rhus juice". This drink is made by soaking the drupes in cool water, rubbing the active principle off the drupes, then straining the liquid through a cotton cloth and sweetening it. Native Americans also used the leaves and berries of the smooth and staghorn sumacs combined with tobacco in traditional smoking mixtures.

Species including the fragrant sumac Rhus aromatica, the littleleaf sumac, R. microphylla, the skunkbush sumac, R. trilobata, the smooth sumac, and the staghorn sumac are grown for ornament, either as the wild type or as cultivars.

The berries of certain sumacs native to Japan and China, such as Rhus verniciflua (Japanese sumac tree) and Rhus succedanea (Japanese wax tree), are used to make japan wax.

The leaves of certain sumacs yield tannin (mostly pyrogallol), a substance used in vegtable tanning. Leather tanned with sumac is flexible, light in weight, and light in color, even bordering on being white.

Propagation

Sumac propagates both by seeds, which are spread by birds and other animals through feces, and new sprouts from rhizomes, forming large clonal colonies. Mowing of sumac is not a good control measure as the wood is springy resulting in jagged, sharp pointed stumps when mowed. The plant will quickly recover with new growth after mowing. See Nebraska Extension Service publication G97-1319 for suggestions as to control.