Staghorn Sumac - Rhus typhina - an easy to grow large shrub or small tree for naturalistic areas

Great fall foliage color and easy to grow in areas that other plants won't tolerate.

Rhus typhina, the staghorn sumac, is a species of flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae, native to eastern North America. It is primarily found in southeastern Canada, the northeastern and midwestern United States, and the Appalachian Mountains, but it is widely cultivated as an ornamental throughout the temperate world. It is an invasive species in some parts of the world.

Rhus typhina is a dioecious, deciduous shrub or small tree growing up to 16 ft tall by 20 ft wide. It has alternate, pinnately compound leaves 10–22 in long, each with 9–31 serrate leaflets . Leaf petioles and stems are densely covered in rust-colored hairs. The velvety texture and the forking pattern of the branches, reminiscent of antlers, have led to the common name "stag's horn sumac".

Small, greenish-white through yellowish flowers occur in dense terminal panicles, and small, green through reddish drupes occur in dense infructescences. Flowers occur from May through July and fruit ripens from June through September in this species’ native range. Fall foliage is brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow. Fruit can remain on plants from late summer through spring. It is eaten by many birds in winter.

Staghorn sumac spreads by seeds and rhizomes and forms clones often with the older shoots in the center and younger shoots around central older ones. Large clones can grow from ortets in several years.

Within Anacardiaceae, staghorn sumac is not closely related to poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix), even though they share the name "sumac".

In late summer some shoots have galls on leaf undersides, caused by the sumac leaf gall aphid, Melaphis rhois. The galls are not markedly harmful to the tree.

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