PlantFiles: Winged Sumac, Shining Sumac, Flame-Leaf Sumac
Rhus copallina

Beautiful small understory tree beneath the oaks and mulberries on this southern Oklahoma acreage. Suckers to form small colonies. Mahogany colored berries remain on the tree thru the winter months and are a great source of food for the birds and wildlife. The leaves turn a flame red in early October as a signal to our late coming autumn.

I have to go with a neutral on this little tree.

I have had mine going on twenty years now and it fills a little English garden I have at the front of my house. It fills it so good that almost everything has been taken over by it. I have just a small amount of grass to mow in that little garden and it is filled with new shoots each time it is mowed. The beds are so invaded that I can no longer keep up with it. The little concrete sidewalk is heaved up because of it. It is growing out of the basement window wells.

It is more than a little invasive and until fall comes, I hate it. The colors are absolutely beautiful in the fall. Who can hate a tree that makes such a pretty picture in the fall.

A common sight in the fence-rows and fallow fields here in West KY. Huge stands line the roadways filling the area with early, brilliant Fall color.

A large shrub or small tree, most folks tend to let this plant remain wild, as it can get invasive in yards.

Great food source for birds , the berries remain attractive all winter.

The Flameleaf sumac is a lovely small tree with wonderful fall color.
Mine has bloomed every year but has failed to set fruit. I wonder if it might need cross polination? Even wihtout the fruit it is lovely and we enjoy it very much. It does sucker some, but that allows me to pot the shoots and give them to other gardeners.

Flame-leaf sumac, native to Central Texas, tends to form thickets via rhizomes and suckers. It grows prolifically in our semi-arid climate and limestone gravel soil. Untended, along roadsides, it generally only grows to 4 or 5 foot shrub size or less. In my garden, with regular watering and amended soil, it very quickly becomes a moderate-sized tree, 10-20 feet. I can attest to the excellent fall color. Bees and wasps visit its tiny yellow-white flowers, but its seeds do not produce nearly as many offspring as its wandering roots. While somewhat invasive, I find the suckers (from shallow rhizomes) fairly easy to rogue out. This shrubby tree does not produce dense shade and therefore accommodates bedding plants underneath it.