Smooth Sumac
Rhus glabra
zones 4-7
50 seeds
Smooth Sumac is native to North America, from southern Quebec west to southern British Columbia in Canada, and south to northern Florida and Arizona in the United States and Tamaulipas in northeastern Mexico. Leaves turn scarlet in the fall. The flowers are tiny, green, produced in dense erect panicles in the spring, later followed by large panicles of edible crimson berries that remain throughout the winter. Native Americans ate the young sprouts as a salad. The fruit is sour and contains a large seed but can be chewed (to alleviate thirst) and made into a lemonade-like drink.
The seeds have a hard seed coat and scarification with sulfuric acid for twenty to thirty minutes followed by two to three months of cold stratification will help the embryo to develop. Place the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle. If sufficient growth is made by the summer, it is possible to plant them out, otherwise grow them in a cold frame for the first winter and plant the following spring after the last projected frost.
Rhus glabra
zones 4-7
50 seeds
Smooth Sumac is native to North America, from southern Quebec west to southern British Columbia in Canada, and south to northern Florida and Arizona in the United States and Tamaulipas in northeastern Mexico. Leaves turn scarlet in the fall. The flowers are tiny, green, produced in dense erect panicles in the spring, later followed by large panicles of edible crimson berries that remain throughout the winter. Native Americans ate the young sprouts as a salad. The fruit is sour and contains a large seed but can be chewed (to alleviate thirst) and made into a lemonade-like drink.
The seeds have a hard seed coat and scarification with sulfuric acid for twenty to thirty minutes followed by two to three months of cold stratification will help the embryo to develop. Place the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle. If sufficient growth is made by the summer, it is possible to plant them out, otherwise grow them in a cold frame for the first winter and plant the following spring after the last projected frost.
Rhus glabra
zones 4-7
50 seeds
Smooth Sumac is native to North America, from southern Quebec west to southern British Columbia in Canada, and south to northern Florida and Arizona in the United States and Tamaulipas in northeastern Mexico. Leaves turn scarlet in the fall. The flowers are tiny, green, produced in dense erect panicles in the spring, later followed by large panicles of edible crimson berries that remain throughout the winter. Native Americans ate the young sprouts as a salad. The fruit is sour and contains a large seed but can be chewed (to alleviate thirst) and made into a lemonade-like drink.
The seeds have a hard seed coat and scarification with sulfuric acid for twenty to thirty minutes followed by two to three months of cold stratification will help the embryo to develop. Place the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle. If sufficient growth is made by the summer, it is possible to plant them out, otherwise grow them in a cold frame for the first winter and plant the following spring after the last projected frost.