The Sumac Family
What are they?
A family of scrubby bushes or small trees, several species of which are notorious for their toxicity. Many species produce copious amounts of fruit which provide important food for migrant and wintering birds.
Where are they found?
Often common constituents of scrubby, secondary growth in old fields and other abandoned areas.
Identification
Two widespread and common species, with other, rarer species being identified by leaf and/or stem details.
Winged Sumac Rhus copallinum
A very common and widespread shrub throughout the region, as a component of secondary growth in abandoned fields, open woodland edge and hedgerows. Flowers July to September. Generally seen as a spreading shrub but capable of growing to a small tree of fifteen feet or so in height.
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is winged |
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Smooth Sumac Rhus glabra
A native plant in Northern New Jersey but at Cape May probably only occurs as a garden escape; currently only known as an occasional shrub of field edges. Flowers June to July. Young stems hairless.
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Staghorn Sumac Rhus typhina
A native plant in Northern New Jersey but at Cape May probably only occurs as a garden escape; currently only known as an occasional shrub of disturbed waste ground. Flowers June to July. Young stems are covered in dense hairs, making them resemble stag antlers when in 'velvet'.
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| in dense hairs |
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Fragrant Sumac Rhus aromatica
A North American native shrub that only occurs in New Jersey as a garden escape. Flowers April to May. The three-lobed leaves are vaguely similar to Eastern Poison-ivy but are always clearly much stiffer and have rounded lobes around their margins.
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Atlantic Poison-oak Toxicodendron pubescens
An uncommon plant of dry, sandy ground, but perhaps easily overlooked in the presence of the abundance of poison-ivy in the region. Flowers May to June. Grows as a low shrub, never as a climber; undersides of leaves hairy.
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Eastern Poison-ivy Toxicodendron radicans
A very common plant in most habitats, usually in wetter soils. This plant is well-known for its toxicity which can be found in all parts of the plant, producing chemical burns when coming into contact with susceptible people. A very variable plant which can be found as a bush, a climber, or sprawling over the ground. Flowers May to July.
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Poison Sumac Toxicodendron vernix
This plant was once described as being common in swamps, but it now appears to be very rare with just a handful of recent records. The burning and itching sensation that can be caused after touching this plant may have resulted in it being deliberately removed from many locations. Flowers May to July.
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purplish and hairless |
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