The most common and conspicuous species in New England is the Staghorn,
or Velvet Sumach, the largest of the genus. Its name is derived from a
certain likeness of its crooked branches, when deprived of their leaves,
to a stag’s horn. This Sumach rises to the dignity of a tree in
favorable situations, and soon becomes a handsome standard, if the
suckers about the roots have no chance to grow. Though its branches are
crooked and irregular, and form a spray that is absolutely ugly, the
tree is very comely when wearing its leafy garniture and decked with
conical bunches of crimson fruit.
The Sumach is sometimes very ornamental in situations that permit the
whole ground to be occupied by it. Its natural habit of growth is in
clumps, gradually spreading over a wide extent of surface. So prone is
this tree to throw up suckers from its long roots, that if it meets with
no opposition it is apt to monopolize the whole ground. The most
appropriate places for it are the banks of railroads and other similar
slopes, which are rendered firm by the network of its numerous roots.
There is no other plant that would in so short a time cover a gravelly
bank with wood and foliage.
The Smooth Sumach is a smaller shrub, averaging only three or four feet
in height. It affects similar localities, being common on the borders of
dry fields and the sides of old roads that pass over a sandy and
gravelly plain. It is not readily distinguished from the larger species;
but its fruit and flowers are borne in loose panicles, and its bunches
have none of that downy substance that characterizes the Velvet Sumach.