Smooth Sumac is very similar to the Staghorn Sumac, except it is a smaller plant, usually 10 to 15 feet high, that is normally a large shrub and it does not have hairy twigs or fruit clusters. It also spreads by ground suckers to form a colony. The compound leaves are 1 to 1.5 feet long with 11 to 31 leaflets that turn an excellent red or orange in autumn. It grows in nature in upland sites, liking hills and slopes in a native range from along the St Lawrence River and southeast Ontario, New England down to central Georgia to east Texas up the Great Plains into southern Manitoba and a few spots in the Rocky Mountains. It is fast growing of 2 to 3 feet/year. The big stems live about 30 years before they die and are replaced from the colony root system. The female plants bear the large, terminal spikes of red berries that are loved by many birds and by some small mammals and last from September through the winter. Some large, diverse nurseries sell some and a good number of the native plant nurseries. The average homeowner very rarely ever plants this species, but a very few might like the cut-leaf cultivar. Landscape designers and architects plant a few in some professional landscapes or at public sites as parks. I got two in my backyard that were planted by the birds from seed along the fence and I have let them grow up.

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