Rhus typhina

Staghorn sumac is a bold native shrub or small tree of the northeastern United States and Canada, growing fifteen to thirty feet on stout, forking stems clothed in fine velvety hairs, the texture and antler-like branching that give the plant the name. The big, pinnate leaves are bright green through summer and turn a spectacular blend of yellow, orange, and red in fall, one of the great autumn shrubs of the eastern flora.

Greenish-yellow flowers open in June and July, feeding bees and other pollinators, and female plants follow with the dense, upright, cone-shaped clusters of fuzzy crimson fruit that stand through winter, blazing against the snow and feeding birds when little else remains. The plant grows fast and suckers into broad colonies, so a single shrub soon becomes a picturesque thicket where there is room to let the plant run.

Few native plants have fed and healed so many. The tart, vitamin-C-rich fruit steeps in cool water into the classic red, lemonade-like drink often called sumac-ade, and Indigenous peoples across the range drew on the astringent, tannin-rich bark, roots, leaves, and berries for a wide array of traditional remedies, from teas for digestive complaints and sore throats to dressings for the skin. The berries and bark also yielded dye.

Give staghorn sumac a large, sunny, well-drained site with room to spread: a hot bank, a wild border, a naturalized edge, or a mass planting for erosion control, where the suckering colony and the tropical foliage are welcome. For a tidier effect, plant where mowing can hold the spread, or grow the finer cutleaf forms in smaller gardens. Pair with grasses and other tough sun-lovers, set a female plant for the fruit, and let the flaming fall color and crimson winter cones carry the season. Deer tend to pass the plant by.

Additional photos courtesy of C.L. Fornari.