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Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Shrubs Around Las Vegas, Vegetation Around Las Vegas
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)

General: Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata) is a fairly tall, upright shrub with 3-lobed leaves, yellow flowers, and clusters of red to red-orange berries.

Skunkbush Sumac is a fairly common component of vegetation communities on well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils. It is most often found along washes, but it is also found on upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zone.

Family: Sumac or Cashew (Anacardiaceae).

Other Names: Formerly Squawbush.

Plant Form: deciduous shrub.

Height: Usually 4 to 6-feet tall, to about 8-feet.

Stems: Bark gray, somewhat striated.

Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Leaves with three lobes like poison ivy

Leaves: Deciduous; shape is variable: some version of three lobes ranging from nearly entire to three nearly separate leaflets, margins lobed, to about 1.5 inches long and across.

Flowers: Blooms mid to late spring. Petals five, yellow.

Seeds: Fruit: drupe (fleshy fruit with a pit like a cherry), to about 1/3-inch diameter, red.

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes in the lower mountains.

Elevation: To about 7,000 feet.

Distribution: California to southern Canada and east to the central U.S.; south into northern Mexico.

Comments: Susceptible to a gall wasp which creates small, white bumps on the leaves.

Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Skunkbush Sumac during summer
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Skunkbush Sumac during summer
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Skunkbush Sumac during winter
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Skunkbush Sumac during winter showing branching structure
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Skunkbush Sumac leaves sprouting in the spring
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Skunkbush Sumac leaves sprouting in the spring
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Skunkbush Sumac leaves
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Skunkbush Sumac leaves
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Leaves with three lobes like poison ivy (with gall wasps)
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Leaves with three lobes like poison ivy
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Leaves sometimes deeply lobes as if three segments
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Gray Bark
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Flowers and flower buds
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Flowers and flower buds
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata) Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Shrub with developing fruits
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Shrub with developing fruits
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Developing fruits
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Ripening fruits
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Ripening fruits
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Ripe fruits
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Fall colors
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Leafless shrub during winter
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Fall colors
Skunkbush Sumac (Rhus trilobata)
Fall colors

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate. Names generally follow the USDA database.
copyright; Last updated 240628

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