Rhus copallinum
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Photo Courtesy Renee Brecht |
Britton & Brown |
| Botanical name: | Rhus copallinum |
| Common name: | winged sumac |
| Group: | dicot |
| Family: | Anacardiaceae |
| Growth type: | tree shrub |
| Duration: | perennial |
| Origin: | native |
| Plant height: | up to 25', rarely over 10' |
| Foliage: | alternate, pinnately compound, 7 to 15 leaflets per leaf; margins entire with prominent wings between the leaflets on the rachis |
| Flower/fruit: | monoecious; greenish yellow; fruit is dark red, round drupe with stick red hairs |
| Habitat: | well-drained, dry sandy ground of old field edges, woodlands |
| Range in New Jersey: | statewide, only rarely in the pine barrens |
| Heritage ranking, if any: | n/a |
| Distribution: |  |
| Misc. | Leaves and bark used to tan leather; fruit used to make a lemonade-like drink. Ring-necked pheasant, bobwhite, wild turkey and about 300 species of songbirds eat the fruit). It is also the winter diet of ruffed grouse and sharp tailed grouse. Cottonatails eat the bark, and white tailed deer eat the fruit and stems. (USDA) |