Species
+

Rhus aromatica Aiton

Aromatic Sumac, Fragrant Sumac, Fragrant sumac, Lemon Sumac

Climate known 60 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Rhus aromatica, commonly known as fragrant sumac, smooth sumac, aromatic sumac, lemon sumac, skunk bush, polecat bush, polecat sumac, or simply sumac, is a deciduous shrub in the family Anacardiaceae native to North America. It is native to southern and eastern Canada, most of the contiguous United States, and Mexico.

Text from Wikipedia, “Rhus aromatica”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

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 ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Sumac”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Anacardiaceae
Described by
Aiton
Native to
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario +52
Wild records
1926 in range· 508 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Jul, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
927mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 97 mm (CHELSA)
Light
13–42DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (April to November in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 927 mm a year, wettest June at 97 mm, driest January at 60 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 42 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -13.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cotinus arenaria (Wierzb. ex Engl.) F.A.Barkley; Lobadium amentaceum Raf.; Lobadium aromaticum (Aiton) Sweet; Lobadium crenatum (Mill.) F.A.Barkley; Lobadium fetidum Raf. and 25 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (April to November in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (669 mm of 927 mm) takes 8 months, April to November. Mean temperature moves 23.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to May.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 927 mm a year, wettest June at 97 mm, driest January at 60 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

927 mm a year at the habitat, 669 mm of it April to November. Wettest month June at 97 mm, driest January at 60 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 383 mm to 1247 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 42 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 54).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -13.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -13.1 °C, the absolute minimum -22.7 °C, about 100 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -3.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells -10.3 °C to 4.4 °C), warmest day 30.6 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -13.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 58% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 6 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Jul; mean night from -3 °C in Jan to 19 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 927 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1385 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -22.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost34.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-22.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 13–42RH 55–58 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1385 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C6 / -2–169 / -0–1714 / 5–2119 / 12–2524 / 18–2828 / 23–3231 / 26–3430 / 25–3426 / 21–3120 / 14–2513 / 7–207 / 0–16
Night °C-3 / -10–4-2 / -9–62 / -5–97 / 1–1312 / 7–1717 / 12–2119 / 15–2319 / 15–2316 / 11–2010 / 5–144 / -2–9-1 / -8–5
Rain mm60 / 16–10761 / 17–11570 / 25–11475 / 22–11394 / 10–13897 / 3–12486 / 7–12082 / 11–11183 / 10–10978 / 23–10874 / 18–11067 / 19–113
DLI16 / 11–2221 / 18–2728 / 26–3735 / 32–4638 / 37–5141 / 39–5442 / 38–5138 / 34–4731 / 26–4023 / 18–3216 / 11–2413 / 8–20
RH %58 / 50–6357 / 51–6156 / 49–5855 / 45–5757 / 44–5957 / 42–6057 / 44–6057 / 45–6057 / 46–6056 / 47–6058 / 48–6158 / 50–63

Each figure is the median across the 1385 grid cells holding the 1809 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 988:2118 (40.575, -74.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -22.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -13.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1385 distinct grid cells holding the 1809 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 988:2118 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 40.50_-74.375, lapse-corrected -48 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 7 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAlberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Québec, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Wyoming, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, 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, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest· introduced: Sweden, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker30.311, -97.822 · in the densest population, 496 records (26% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1926 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 508 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 396 km away. 4 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 117 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1926 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Rhus aromaticaRhus aromaticaRhus aromaticaRhus aromaticaRhus aromaticaRhus aromaticaRhus aromaticaRhus aromatica

Photographs: (c) Zihao Wang, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Jeremy Atherton, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Bill Keim, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); no rights reserved · CC0.

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Rhus aromatica, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

A spects of the T hermal E cology of B obwhites in N orth T exas
Fred S. Guthery, ALEXANDR R. RYBAK, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Tim L. Hiller (2005) · Wildlife Monographs
Vegetational heterogeneity during a primary sand dune succession
R. G. Morrison, G. A. Yarranton (1974) · Canadian Journal of Botany
Pericarp Ontogeny and Anatomy in Rhus aromatica Ait. and R. glabra L. (Anacardiaceae)
Xiaojie Li, Jerry M. Baskin, Carol C. Baskin (1999) · The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society
Assessing Bioretention Cell Function in a Midwest Continental Climate
Trisha L. Culbertson, Stacy L. Hutchinson (2004) · 2004, Ottawa, Canada August 1 - 4, 2004
Ozone Sensitivity of 28 Plant Selections Exposed to Ozone Under Controlled Conditions
Lee J. Kline, Donald D. Davis, J. M. Skelly, J.E. Savage (2008) · Northeastern Naturalist
Management Implications of Cover Selection Data: Northern Bobwhite Example
Tim L. Hiller, Fred S. Guthery, Alexander R. Rybak, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf (2007) · Journal of Wildlife Management
Redevelopment of Black Oak (Quercus velutina Lam.) Savanna in an Abandoned Sand Mine in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, USA
CHRISTINA A. WILCOX, Young‐Moon Chun, Young Don Choi (2005) · The American Midland Naturalist

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Rhus 4 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 90 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.