Sumacs

Just last week a neighbor noticed a red berried plant on the bottom hillside of my property which fronts on RR12. In my thirty years of living here, I had never noticed that plant. ( So much for my power of observation.) I looked at the plant, but I could not identify it, so I took cuttings with berries on them over to my good friends, Dell and Gerin Hood, both Master Naturalists and longtime volunteers at the Wildflower Center. After a good bit of researching, we determimed that the plant was a sumac. Furthermore, it was either a Fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatic) or a Skunk cabbage (Rhus trilobata.) These two grow on the Edwards Plateau , limestone outcroppings, or in sandy woods. Deer love them!

Then, in Wednesday’s Austin Statesman, there was an article on cooking with sumac without getting a rash. I learned that sumac “is a common spice in many North African and Middle Eastern dishes and that you can enjoy its citrus tang in a dish like fried padron peppers” and many other dishes. A recipe for the peppers, which I am not ready to try just yet, also appeared in the article.

With these sumac episodes in mind, I did further research and learned that there are some 250 species, some of which can be used as medicines, culinary spice, or dye. Sunken ships from far off countries in the early days of exploration, have been found to have cargoes of sumac drupes in them.

In my own yard, I have two other sumacs. The flameleaf sumac has extremely colorful leaves in the fall. They are abundant on our roadsides. The evergreen sumac has shiny green leaves and it is indeed “evergreen.” Poison sumac is also around, but I have not seen any nearby nor have I been afflicted with it…but beware. Its drupes are white, not red. Be on the lookout. You might find this poison sumac and any number of others such as the staghorn or who knows what.

Written by Martha Knies