Habitat

• native to eastern United States
• hardy to zone 3

Habit and Form

• a deciduous large shrub or small tree
• 10' to 15' high
• equally as wide
• grows in colonies
• medium texture
• moderate growth rate

Summer Foliage

• alternate leaf arrangement
• odd-pinnately compound leaves
• 12" top 18" long
• 11 to 31 leaflets
• lanceolate leaflet shape
• leaflets , 2" to 5" long
• serrated leaf margins
• dark green leaf color
• red rachis

Autumn Foliage

• yellow, red or orange fall color
• very showy

Flowers

• dioecious
• greenish-yellow color
• blooms in late June
• borne in 6" to 10" long panicles, terminal

Fruit

• pubescent, red drupe
• terminal panicles
• persists

Bark

• glabrous, stout stems
• triangular
• leaf scar almost encircles bud

Culture

• easily transplanted
• soil adaptable
• suckers
• full sun to partial shade

Landscape Use

• massing or groupings
• highway buffer
• woods edge
• naturalistic areas
• bank covers

Liabilities

• Verticillium Wilt
• aphids, scales, rusts and mites

ID Features

• no pubescence on stems
• leaf scar encircles buds
• greenish yellow flowers
• red fruit spikes
• alternate pinnately compound leaves
• stout stems

Propagation

• by seed
• by cuttings

Cultivars/Varieties

var. cismontana - Listed as a western variety of the species, this variant is supposedly more drought tolerant than the species. It is also smaller in all its features, reaching only 6' tall with smaller fruit and flower clusters.

'Laciniata' - This is a female form that produces red fruit, but it is most notable for its dissected, cut-leaf foliage. The texture of the foliage is much finer than the species.

'Morden's' (also known as 'Morden Selection') - This is a relatively dwarf form that only grows to 6' tall. It is a female that bears red fruit.

'Red Autumn Lace' (Rhus x pulvinata, a hybrid of R. glabra and R. typhina) - This is a confused entity, as some authors state that this is the "real" 'Laciniata' and that both are the same. It features dissected foliage and pubescence that is intermediate between the two species, thus this hybrid designation may be correct.