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Rhus copallinum; photograph Riverbanks Outdoor Store from New Port Richey, FL, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BYRiverbanks Outdoor Store from New Port Richey, FL, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rhus copallinum L.

Anacardiaceae · Ontario, Illinois +39

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

No habitat climate
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Rhus copallinum, photograph Magnus Manske, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRhus copallinum, photograph Franz Xaver, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRhus copallinum, photograph David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRhus copallinum, photograph Alex Abair, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRhus copallinum, photograph Alex Abair, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRhus copallinum, photograph Alex Abair, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›

Summary

Rhus copallinum, the winged sumac, shining sumac, dwarf sumac or flameleaf sumac, is a species of flowering plant in the cashew family (Anacardiaceae) that is native to eastern North America. It is a deciduous tree growing to 3.5–5.5 metres (11–18 ft) tall and an equal spread with a rounded crown. A 5-year-old sapling will stand about 2.5 metres (8.2 ft). The name Rhus copallina is also used, but this is not consistent with the rules of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Rhus copallinum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Rhus

Sumac or sumach —not to be confused with poison sumac—is any of the roughly 35 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus of the cashew and mango tree family, Anacardiaceae. However, it is Rhus coriaria that is most commonly used for culinary purposes. Sumac is prized as a spice—especially in Middle Eastern cuisine—and used as a dye and holistic remedy. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sumac", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Nothing derived: no habitat climate for this species.

Climate across the habitat

No habitat climate can be derived: No georeferenced record inside the range.

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP.
No openly licensed record to show inside the range.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the keys of the names Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 3659976 (Schmaltzia copallina (L.) Small, 0 records), 3660595 (Sumacus copallina (L.) Raf., 0 records), 7321917 (Toxicodendron copallinum (L.) Kuntze, 0 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeOntario, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Cuba · introduced: Great Britain, Trinidad-Tobago · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedNo georeferenced records inside the stated native range.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 3659976 (Schmaltzia copallina (L.) Small): Kew's file holds it as Schmaltzia copallina (L.) Small (synonym under Rhus copallinum L.); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 3660595 (Sumacus copallina (L.) Raf.): Kew's file holds it as Sumacus copallina (L.) Raf. (synonym under Rhus copallinum L.); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 7321917 (Toxicodendron copallinum (L.) Kuntze): Kew's file holds it as Toxicodendron copallinum (L.) Kuntze (synonym under Rhus copallinum L.); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.

Photographs

Rhus copallinum, photograph 1did not loadRhus copallinum, photograph 2did not loadRhus copallinum, photograph 3did not loadRhus copallinum, photograph 4did not loadRhus copallinum, photograph 5did not loadRhus copallinum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Magnus Manske, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Franz Xaver, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Alex Abair, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (3).

Other Rhus 19 in the reference

Rhus aromatica Rhus aromatica Fragrant sumac Photo: CC BY, Nathan AaronRhus chinensis Rhus chinensis Chinese sumac Photo: CC BY, 大澤風季 ohsawa_FukiRhus coriaria Rhus coriaria Tanner's sumach Photo: CC BY, Filipi Miranda SoaresRhus glabra Rhus glabra Smooth sumac Photo: CC BY, Dustin SniderRhus hartmanii Rhus hartmanii Anacardiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, KenraizRhus integrifolia Rhus integrifolia Lemonade sumac Photo: CC BY, Ryan DonnellyRhus kearneyi Rhus kearneyi Kearney's sumac Photo: CC BY, Trevor Van LoonRhus lentii Rhus lentii Pink-flowering Sumac Photo: CC BY, Sula VanderplankRhus michauxii Rhus michauxii Michaux's sumac Photo: CC BY, Ashwin SrinivasanRhus microphylla Rhus microphylla Desert sumac Photo: CC BY, Ian McFaulRhus ovata Rhus ovata Sugar sumac Photo: CC BY, Ryan DonnellyRhus potaninii Rhus potaninii Potanin Sumac Photo: CC BY-SA, Michael Wolf all 20 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Schmaltzia copallina; Toxicodendron copallinum; Sumacus copallina. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Anacardiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Ontario, Illinois, Iowa +38
Wild records
none in range

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Rhus copallinum L. (plant_name_id 2422860), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; 0 records of GBIF's key 3659976, Schmaltzia copallina (L.) Small (Kew's file holds it as Schmaltzia copallina (L.) Small (synonym under Rhus copallinum L.)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 3660595, Sumacus copallina (L.) Raf. (Kew's file holds it as Sumacus copallina (L.) Raf. (synonym under Rhus copallinum L.)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 7321917, Toxicodendron copallinum (L.) Kuntze (Kew's file holds it as Toxicodendron copallinum (L.) Kuntze (synonym under Rhus copallinum L.)): GBIF occurrence search API
Habitat climate climate nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22no georeferenced record inside the range
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 219750-2, POWO 219750-2
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence.

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