Rhus typhina

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.