#flameleaf sumac

Flameleaf Sumac / Copal

Rhus copalina

In the American Southeast, sumac may be best known for its sweet berries which make a delicious, refreshing drink commonly known as sumac-ade. You can find a recipe for that here. But the beautiful sumac tree is also full of healing potential, especially in its tannin-rich bark.

The Cherokee used sumac berries as an antiemetic (do not consume the seeds, only the flesh of the fruit), poured an infusion of the bark and leaves over sunburn and other blisters, drank an infusion of the bark to increase a mother’s milk flow, chewed the berries to treat bedwetting, and used the berried to make a black or red dye (depending on how the dye was treated and fixed). The Creek took a decoction of the root for dysentery. The Delaware made an infusion of the leaves to wash and cleanse skin eruptions (as an astringent), applied a poultice of the root to blemishes, made a mouthwash from the berries to treat mouth sores, took an infusion of the root to treat venereal disease, and used the leaves and root in a tobacco mixture. The Koasati made a decoction of the leaves to bathe babies in so that they would walk. The Seminole used a closely related species of sumac, the winged sumac, to make a bark infusion for urine retention or gonorrhoea. 

An oil may be extracted from the seeds of other Rhus species that, when allowed to stand, develops a tallow-like consistency and may be used to make candles-- though they burn with a pungent black smoke. The gum of the tree is resinous and has been used to burn as incense.

Beautiful Winged Sumac is Currently in Full Bloom shows readers one of Florida’s earliest fall wildflowers. It explains a bit about their blooming cycle and how attractive they are to pollinators.

Star of Sumac On my last trip out to Gothe State Forest the winged sumac (Rhus copallinum) was blooming everywhere. It’s one of our earliest fall wildflowers and is very impressive when in full bloom. Each plant has multiple stalks and each stalk has hundreds of small yellow and red flowers and light green buds in clusters. The flowers are very short lived, but all of the buds don’t open at…