Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Fragrant Sumac is a bushy perennial shrub, growing up to 7 feet high but 10 foot is attainable Thickets are formed from the suckering roots.

The bark can be covered with dense fine hair and a few small raised spots. New growth is green, older twigs and stems are brown. Twigs form a zigzag pattern. Buds have darker brown coloration and are hairy.

Leaves: Unlike the other two sumacs in the Garden, the leaves of Fragrant Sumac are alternate and divided into 3 mostly stalkless leaflets that are slightly aromatic when crushed, as are the stems. The leaflets are coarsely toothed and can have a variable shape but are mostly wedge shaped at the base, green to blue-green in summer and orange to red to purple in the Autumn. Both the upper and lower surfaces of young leaves have fine hair.

Inflorescence: Plants are polygamodioecious, that is they can carry separate unisexual and bisexual flowers on the same plant. The unisexual male flowers (staminate - sterile) are in yellowish catkins at the tips of branches and appear in summer and remain over winter. The unisexual female (pistillate - fertile) flowers are in a tight cluster that grows near the ends of prior year branches; flowers open right after the leaves open in central MN.

Flowers: Individual flowers are small (about 1/8 inch wide), bright yellow with a bell shaped hypanthium, 5 spatula shaped petals that have rounded tips, a light greenish-yellow calyx with 5 pointed lobes which are united at their base, much shorter than the petals, and the entire flower on a short stalk. The inside of the corolla throat is hairy. The staminate (sterile) flowers have 5 stamens placed alternate with the 5 petals. The filaments are yellowish green, the anthers yellow, oblong, with 2 cells. The sterile flowers have a smaller but imperfect ovary. The pistillate flowers have a larger ovoid 1-celled ovary with 3 short styles. Fertile flowers usually show stamens that are functionally sterile and shorter than those in the staminate flowers.

Fruit: At maturity the flowers produce a bright red, up to 1/4 inch diameter, densely hairy drupe containing a single smooth reddish-brown oval to bean shaped nutlet. These fruits provide winter food for Wild Turkey, grouse, wintering birds, and active small mammals. The foliage is not very palatable for most animals.

Habitat: As the plant usually does not grow as high as the other sumacs it can be used as a high ground cover, although as noted in the first paragraph, older specimens can exceed "high ground cover" expectations. It tolerates both sun and open shade and is found in the open woods and prefers mesic to dry moisture conditions. Like the other sumacs, fire will generate vigorous growth. Roots will frequently send up suckers. It can be propagated from root cuttings and cultivars are available from the nursery trade. It is not native to Minnesota but grows well in the central and southern part of the state.

Names: The genus Rhus, is derived from the old Greek name for Sumac - rhous. The species name, aromatica, refers to the aromatic leaves. The author name of the plant classification,‘Aiton’ refers to William Aiton (1731-1793), Scottish botanist, who succeeded Philip Miller as superintendent of the Chelsea Physic Garden and then became director of Kew Gardens, where he published Hortus Kewensis, the Garden’s catalogue of plants in 1789.

Comparison: There are three sumacs in the Garden - Compare: Smooth Sumac, Staghorn Sumac. The individual drupes look similar but the leaves and flower clusters are quite different.