| Description | Fernleaf Sumac (Rhus typhina laciniata) is a tall, wide-spreading, suckering shrub that has spectacular fall color. |
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| Pronunciation | (rhoos or Rhuss)(TIE-fee-na) |
| Plant Type | Shrubs Deciduous |
| Hardiness Zone | 3-8 |
| Sunlight | full |
| Moisture | average |
| Soil & Site | average, tolerates dry unfertile |
| Flowers | Female flowers produce showy, terminal, pyramidal panicle-like fruiting clusters that can reach up to 8 inches in length. Each cluster contains numerous hairy, berry-like drupes that ripen bright red in autumn and gradually turn dark red as they persist through much of the winter. The fruit is attractive to wildlife. |
| Fruit | Produced on a female plant, found on a terminal panicle, red, covered with fine hair, and the seeds are very hard. |
| Leaves | Large pinnate compound leaves have deeply cut leaflets, green in summer, yellow, and orange in the fall. |
| Stems | The young stems have a reddish brown pubescence. |
| Dimensions | This is a suckering shrub that forms thickets in the wild through self-seeding and root suckering, reaching heights of 10-25 feet tall. |
| Maintenance | Some people prune to the ground every other year |
| Propagation | Seeds need to be soaked in sulfuric acid to soften their seed coat (scarification). Easier from root cuttings or division. |
| Native Site | Species plant is from eastern United States. |
| Notes & Reference | #01-Manual of Woody Landscape Plants (Michael Dirr), #03-The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs (Hillier Nursery), #63-How to recognize Shrubs (William Carey Grimm) |
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