Reference specimenAccession  SKU-01698

Rhus michauxii

Michaux's Sumac

At a glance
Type
Shrub
Hardiness
USDA Zones 6–9
Sun
Full Sun, Part Shade
Soil
Well-drained
Mature size
Height 1–3 Feet · Spread 3–6 Feet
Growth rate
Moderate
Seasonality
Deciduous
A plant Woodlanders once offered on our catalogue

This variety is no actively in production in our propagation house and may not return to our catalogue. We maintain this page purely for reference and archival purposes. If you would like to grow this plant, tell us. Your interest helps guide what we bring back.

For a larger installation or commercial project, write hello@woodlanders.net.

Michaux's sumac is a low, colony-forming native shrub, rhizomatous and densely hairy, rising only one to three feet on erect stems from a spreading root system. The compound leaves turn beautiful shades of orange and red in fall, and the dwarf, running habit makes the plant a fine, well-behaved groundcover-scale sumac for a sunny to lightly shaded native planting.

Growing this shrub is an act of conservation. Rhus michauxii is a federally listed endangered species, endemic to the coastal plain and piedmont of Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, where only scattered populations remain, many of them a single sex and unable to set seed. Every nursery-grown plant helps keep a vanishing American species in cultivation, and the foliage doubles as a larval host for the luna moth.

Through the growing season the plant carries the fine, ferny texture of the sumac clan on a knee-high frame, and greenish-yellow flower clusters give way, on female plants, to the fuzzy red fruit that feeds birds. The blaze of orange and red fall color is the show, unusual on so small a shrub, and the running roots knit a durable colony that holds lean, sunny ground.

Use Michaux's sumac as a low native groundcover or massing on a dry, sunny bank, a naturalized edge, or a conservation and pollinator planting, in well-drained soil and full sun to light shade. Give room for the colony to spread, pair with little bluestem and other sun-loving natives, and grow the plant in the spirit of keeping a rare piece of the southeastern flora alive.

Design Notes

A rare native groundcover to conserve. Use Michaux's sumac as a low native groundcover or massing on a dry, sunny bank, a naturalized edge, or a conservation and pollinator planting, in well-drained soil and full sun to light shade. Give room for the colony to spread.

Pair with little bluestem and other sun-loving natives, and grow the plant knowing that every nursery-raised specimen helps keep a federally endangered piece of the southeastern flora alive.

Flower, Fruit & Foliage

Greenish-yellow, spring to early summer

Flower. Small greenish-yellow flowers in terminal clusters open in late spring and early summer. The plant is dioecious, so only female plants set fruit.

Fruit. Female plants bear fuzzy red drupes in short clusters that feed birds.

Foliage. Compound, ferny leaves on a low, one to three foot frame, turning brilliant orange and red in fall. The foliage hosts the caterpillars of the luna moth.

Care

Light. Full sun to light shade. Sun gives the best form and fall color.

Soil. Well-drained soil; the plant favors lean, sandy, sunny ground and dislikes wet feet.

Water. Drought tolerant once established. Water through the first season, then little is needed.

Pruning. Little needed. The running roots form a low colony; contain the edges where a tidier patch is wanted.

Hardiness. USDA zones 6 to 9. A federally endangered native, so grow nursery-propagated stock and never collect from the wild.