Smooth sumac

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

N5 - Secure
SNR - Unranked

Minnesota

not listed

Description

Smooth sumac is a fast-growing, 4′ to 15′ tall shrub or, rarely, small tree. It rises on a single trunk from long-creeping branched rhizomes. In Minnesota mature plants are usually 4′ to 15′ tall and 2″ to 4″ in diameter. Large individuals can reach over 32′ in height and 8″ in diameter. It often forms dense colonies with the oldest and tallest individuals in the center surrounded by progressively younger and shorter individuals. It is a short-lived tree, usually surviving no more than 50 years.

The trunk is forked and occasionally branched. The crown is open, irregular, and rounded or flat-topped.

The bark on young parts is thin, smooth, and dark brown to yellowish-brown with prominent lenticels. As it ages it becomes slightly scaly.

The upper branchlets are hairless, but flowering branches are sparsely hairy. The lower trunk and branches are hairless and woody.

The twigs are very stout, tan to slightly reddish, and hairless. Older branches have prominent lenticels, while younger branches and twigs do not. When broken the branches exude a yellowish sap.

There is no terminal bud—the branches end in a cluster of fruits or a dead stub. The lateral buds are cone-shaped, 3 ⁄16″ to ¼″ long, and covered with pale brown, velvety hairs. The leaf scar is crescent or horse-shoe shaped and has 3 bundle scars. The leaf scar almost completely surrounds the bud.

The leaves are deciduous, alternate, and pinnately compound. They are 12″ to 24″ long and are divided into 11 to 31 leaflets. They are on 1¼″ to 4″ long, hairless leaf stalks. The central stalk of the leaf to which the leaflets are attached is slightly reddish and hairless and is not winged.

The leaflets are stalkless or on very short stalks. They are arranged in opposite or slightly alternate pairs with 1 terminal leaflet. They are lance-shaped, 2″ to 4¾″ long, and ¾″ to 1¾″ wide. They are rounded or slightly heart-shaped at the base and taper to a long point at the tip. The upper surface is dark green and hairless. The lower surface is pale green to sometimes nearly white, hairless, and covered with a whitish, waxy coating (glaucous). The margins have fine, sharp, forward-pointing teeth or are rarely pinnately lobed. In autumn the leaves turn bright orange, red, or purple.

Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. The inflorescence is a dense, erect, 2¾″ to 10″ long, 1½″ to 2″ wide, branched cluster (panicle) at the end of many of the branchlets. Each panicle is made up of 100 to 700 flowers. Female panicles are more compact than male panicles.

The flowers are tiny and yellowish-green. They appear in early June to mid-July after the leaves are fully developed.

The fruit is fleshy and surrounds a single seed (drupe). It is dark red, ⅛″ to 3 ⁄16″ long and wide, and covered with bright red, needle-like hairs. They are held in dense, upright clusters. They ripen from August to September and persist for most of the winter.

Height

4′ to 15′

Flower Color

Yellowish-green

Similar Species

Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) branches, twigs, and rachis are densely covered with short, woolly or felty hairs. The drupes are densely hairy. It is less common than smooth sumac.

Habitat

Dry. Abandoned fields, forest edges, thickets, roadsides. Full sun.

Ecology

Flowering

Early June to mid-July

Pests and Diseases

Use

Distribution

Sources

2, 3, 5, 7, 24, 28, 30, 83.

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu. Accessed 3/5/2026).

Midwest Herbaria Portal. 2026. https://midwestherbaria.org/portal/index.php. Accessed 3/5/2026.

Rhus glabra L. in GBIF Secretariat (2023). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org. Accessed 3/5/2026.

Smith, Welby R. 2008. Trees and Shrubs of Minnesota: The Complete Guide to Species Identification. The University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN.