Sumacs

Description

Fruiting sumac shrub at field edge.

Sumacs (Rhus spp./Anacardiaceae). Sumac contains 100 to 150 species: 100 that grow in Eurasia/Africa, 5 in Central America and 54 in North America. All species look alike microscopically and fluoresce under long-wave ultraviolet light. One species, R. vernicifera, is used for Oriental lacquer.

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina./Anacardiaceaev) is native to North America, from Quebec to Maine, southern Ontario, northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota; south to northeastern Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, northern Kentucky, West Virginia, and Maryland. In mountainous areas, it extends south to Virginia, North Carolina, northern Georgia and central Tennessee.

The largest of the native Sumacs, Staghorn Sumac is classed as a large shrub reaching 40 ft (12 m) high and 1 ft (0.3 m) wide at base. Fast-growing, Sumacs are short-lived plants that serve as cover and food for wildlife. The its copious fruits are consumed by many species of birds and mammals, while the leaves are also eaten by mammals. Sumacs can be shrubs, vines or trees with alternate pinnately compound leaves, which may be evergreen or deciduous. The flowers, produced in small clusters, are yellowish green and turn into velvety bunches (staghorns) in the fall. The fruits berry-like, small, and round or oval, and contain a pit and seed. The leaves turn to red, purple and yellow in the fall. Tannins can be obtained from bark and leaves.

Close view of Sumac flowers and leaves on a branch.

The wood of sumac is ring porous to semi-ring porous, with a whitish gray sapwood streaked with yellow or green. The heartwood is olive-green to greenish yellow to russet brown with dark streaks. The wood, which fluoresces under ultraviolet radiation, is lightweight, soft, and brittle, with a high luster. Sumac is easily air-dried without cracks or checks. The fresh-cut wood exudes a sticky fluid at the cambium (junction between bark and wood); both the sap and wood cause dermatitis. Although it frays on turning, Sumac wood is easily worked with sharp tools. It is used for novelties, carvings, and turned items.

Characteristics

Characteristics found in the Sumac, Staghorn (Rhus typhina):

  • Ring to semi-ring porous
  • Coalesced/Confluent parenchyma
  • Tyloses
  • Spirals in vessels
  • Simple perforations
  • I/V pits small (4-7)
  • Uniseriate, heterocellular rays

Slides (Click on each image to view a larger image)

WOOD SLIDES

Group slide of transverse section staghorn sumac wood. Arrows point to latewood vessels, the growth ring boundary, and earlywood vessels.
Microscope slide of transverse section of staghorn sumac wood at higher magnification. Arrows show Lakewood vessels, fibers, the growth ring boundary, earlywood vessels, and rays.
Microscope slide of transverse section of staghorn sumac wood at high magnification. Arrows show fibers, latewood vessels, and the ray.
Microscope slide of radial section of staghorn sumac at high magnification. Arrows show the ray, ray and vessel pitting, and vessels.
Microscope slide of a radial section of staghorn sumac wood with arrows pointing to vessel spirals.
Microscope slide of radial section of staghorn sumac wood with arrows pointing to vessels and rays.
Microscope slide of tangential section of staghorn sumac wood at high magnification. Arrows point to spirals, rays, and vessels.
Microscope slide of tangential section of staghorn sumac wood at high magnification. Arrows point to vessels and rays.
Microscope slide of tangential section of staghorn sumac wood at high magnification. Arrows point to inter-vessel pitting.
Microscope slide of tangential section of staghorn sumac at high magnification. Arrows point to spirals, inter-vessel pitting, and vessel.

CHARCOAL SLIDES

Microscope slide of transverse section of staghorn sumac charcoal. Arrows identify growth ring boundaries.
Microscope slide of transverse section of staghorn sumac charcoal. Arrows identify earlywood vessels, tyloses, growth ring boundary, and latewood vessels.
Microscope slide of transverse section of staghorn sumac charcoal at high magnification. Arrows identify earlywood vessels, growth ring boundary, late wood vessels, and ray.
Microscope slide of radial section of staghorn sumac charcoal at high magnification. Arrows identify vessels and rays.
Microscope slide of radial section of staghorn sumac charcoal. Arrows identify rays and vessel.
Microscope slide of tangential surface of staghorn sumac charcoal. Arrows identify vessel, inter-vessel pitting, and rays.
Microscope slide of tangential surface at high magnification of staghorn sumac charcoal. Arrows point to vessels, and rays
Microscope slide of tangential section of staghorn sumac charcoal at high magnification. Arrows point to raise and vessel.