# Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra)

> Smooth sumac, Rhus glabra: a shrub of 2 to 20 feet for zones 3 to 9, when it flowers and fruits, how fast it grows, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/smooth-sumac/

![Bright scarlet smooth sumac leaflets, a few with dark spots, hanging from a stem over blurred prairie grass](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/smooth-sumac-1000.jpg?v=6d2d539d "Smooth sumac in fall color on the Albany Dry Prairie in Green County, Wisconsin, on October 4, 2016. Its fruit hangs on through winter, when birds and small mammals eat it.")
*Photo: Joshua Mayer, [CC BY-SA 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASmooth_Sumac_(Rhus_glabra)_-_Flickr_-_wackybadger_(1).jpg))*

Shrub, 2 to 20 feet, zones 3 to 9; full sun, part shade or shade; dry or average ground.

We do not grow smooth sumac, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Smooth Sumac |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Scarlet sumac, common sumac, red sumac, vinegar tree, western sumac, white sumac, Rocky Mountain sumac |
| Form | Shrub |
| Height, feet | 2 to 20 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 15 |
| Zones | 3 to 9 |
| Sun | Full sun, part shade or shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Showy flowers, fall color, wildlife value, honey tree, edible, bears young, hedge or screen, salt tolerant, winter interest, erosion control |
| Flowers | May to July |
| Fruit | Drupes, August to February |
| First crop | 3 to 4 years |
| Pollination | Separate male and female plants. Smooth sumac plants are male or female, and only females bear the red fruit, so a female needs a male nearby. |
| Black walnut | Tolerant, on the Morton Arboretum's list |
| Ground | Dry uplands, rocky ground, sandy barrens, old fields and edges |
| Native in | 47 states and the District of Columbia |

Smooth sumac is native in 47 states and the District of Columbia: [Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arizona](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AZ), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Colorado](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Idaho](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ID), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KS), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [Montana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MT), [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE), [Nevada](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NV), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New Mexico](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NM), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Utah](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=UT), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI), [Wyoming](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WY) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=smooth-sumac): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=smooth-sumac): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=smooth-sumac&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=smooth-sumac): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=smooth-sumac): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=smooth-sumac): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=smooth-sumac): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=smooth-sumac:5): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=smooth-sumac): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its height](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=smooth-sumac): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=smooth-sumac): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [New Jersey Tea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/new-jersey-tea/index.html.md) (*Ceanothus americanus*): shrub, 2 to 3 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares dry uplands, rocky ground, sandy barrens, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Hillside Blueberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hillside-blueberry/index.html.md) (*Vaccinium pallidum*): shrub, 1 to 3 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares dry uplands, rocky ground, sandy barrens, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Prairie Redroot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/prairie-redroot/index.html.md) (*Ceanothus herbaceus*): shrub, 2 to 3 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares dry uplands, rocky ground, sandy barrens, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Running Serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/running-serviceberry/index.html.md) (*Amelanchier spicata*): shrub, 1 to 6 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares dry uplands, rocky ground, sandy barrens, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Common Juniper](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-juniper/index.html.md) (*Juniperus communis*): shrub, 2 to 10 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares dry uplands, rocky ground, sandy barrens, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Downy Arrowwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/downy-arrowwood/index.html.md) (*Viburnum rafinesqueanum*): shrub, 3 to 10 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares dry uplands, rocky ground, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Every companion of smooth sumac in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=smooth-sumac)

## Read from

Its figures come from the USDA PLANTS Database, NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual and the University of Connecticut's plant database.