Taxonomy
Family: Anacardiaceae
Habitat
Rocky slopes, sandy barrens, thickets, moist lake shores, edges of dry woods.
Associates
Distribution
Eastern Canada and New England west to MN, south to GA and a few states west.
Morphology
Colonial shrub or small tree to 10 m. Twigs and petioles densely hairy. Leaves pinnately compound; leaflets 9-29, acuminate, serrate, pale beneath. Flowers greenish-yellow in a terminal inflorescence. Fruits red, somewhat flattened, and covered with elongate, tapering hairs.
Notes
Flowers early June to early July
Wetland indicator: Upland
A popular ornamental shrub that forms extensive vegetative colonies. The cutleaf cultivars are particularly interesting. Some current authorities are calling this plant R. hirta (L.) Sudworth, based upon a specimen examined by Reveal (1991) that Swink & Wilhelm describe as a "sterile, monstrous type specimen".
Bibliography
Reveal, J. L. 1991. Rhus hirta (L.) Sudworth, a newly revived correct name for Rhus typhina L. (Anacardiaceae). Taxon 40:489-492
Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
Michael Hough © 2005 |