Alternate name: Ill-scented Sumac, Skunkbush Sumac, Squawbush, Lemonade Berry

Family: Anacardiaceae, Cashew view all from this family

Description Erect bushy, stiffly branched shrub with highly aromatic 3-parted leaves and clusters of red berries.
Leaves: alternate, usually pinnately compound with 3 leaflets or, rarely, simple and 3- or 5-lobed; up to 3" (7.5 cm) long. Terminal leaflet about 2" (5 cm) long, broadly wedge-shaped and tapering to junction with the 2 smaller, rounder side leaflets. Finely haired.
Bark: smooth, brown.
Flowers: tiny, pale yellow, clustered in spikes 1/2-3/4" (1.2-2 cm) long; 5 petals, 5 sepals, and 5 stamens; March-June.
Fruit: about 1/4" (6 mm) in diameter; fleshy red berry with sticky secretion and fine hairs, in tight clusters.
Height: 3-6' (0.9-1.8 m).

Habitat Open slopes and canyons; often in chaparral.

Range Alberta south in the Rockies to Mexico, east to Iowa, west to Idaho and se. Oregon, and from there south through California to Baja California.

Discussion Skunkbush is one of the more widespread sumacs in the West. It is most common in the Rockies, where it is a common constituent of mountain brush communities on dry, often rocky slopes in open montane forest. The plant is less common in California, where it mainly occurs in canyons and washes in the foothills. The fruit, which ripens in the fall, is an important source of winter food for many game birds, as well as songbirds and a numbers of small mammals. In severe winters, game birds have been known to stay close to sumac patches until the berries are exhausted. Native Americans used the berries of Skunkbush and other sumacs to make drinks resembling pink lemonade, hence an alternate name, Lemonade Berry, that is applied to this and several other members of the genus. The name Squawbush no doubt derives from the fact that native women used the flexible stems of this plant to make baskets. Skunkbush refers to the unpleasant odor emitted when the plant is crushed.