Scientific Name: Rhus typhina
Common Name: staghorn sumac
Native Range: Eastern North America
Zone: 3 to 8
Plant type & Form: Deciduous shrub
Height: 15.00 to 25.00 feet
Spread: 20.00 to 30.00 feet
Bloom Time: June to July
Bloom Description: Greenish-yellow
Flower: Tiny, greenish-yellow flowers bloom in terminal cone-shaped panicles in late spring to early summer (June-July), with male and female flower cones primarily occurring on separate plants (dioecious)
Fruit: showy pyramidal fruiting clusters (to 8” long), with each cluster containing numerous hairy, berry-like drupes which ripen bright red in autumn, gradually turning dark red
Leaf: Large, compound, odd-pinnate leaves (each to 24” long) are bright green above during the growing season and glaucous beneath. Leaves turn attractive shades of yellow/orange/red in autumn. Each leaf has 13-27 toothed, lanceolate-oblong leaflets (each to 2-5” long).
Bark: reddish-brown hairs cover the young branchlets in somewhat the same way that velvet covers the horns of a stag
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Dry to medium
Soil type & pH: average, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils
Maintenance: Medium
Suggested Use: Naturalize
Tolerates: Rabbit, Drought, Erosion, Dry Soil, Shallow-Rocky Soil, Black Walnut
Identification notes: Find it in woodland edges, roadsides, railroad embankments and stream/swamp margins. Fruit persists through winter.