Rhus glabra L.
Red Sumac, Scarlet Sumac, Scarlet Sumach, Smooth Sumac
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 glabra, the smooth sumac, is a North American species of sumac in the family Anacardiaceae.
Text from Wikipedia, “Rhus glabra”, 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.
At a glance
Also known as Rhus albida Greene; Rhus angustiarum Lunell; Rhus aprica Greene; Rhus arbuscula Greene; Rhus arguta Greene and 45 more.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to October 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 (777 mm of 1070 mm) takes 8 months, March to October. Mean temperature moves 24.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to April.
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 1070 mm a year, wettest June at 110 mm, driest January at 65 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1070 mm a year at the habitat, 777 mm of it March to October. Wettest month June at 110 mm, driest January at 65 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 658 mm to 1357 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: 12 to 40 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 12 to 40 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 9, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).
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 -7.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -7.7 °C, the absolute minimum -20.7 °C, about 95 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -4.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells -12.1 °C to 3.1 °C), warmest day 28.8 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -7.7 °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.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 59% 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
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 4 / -3–13 | 6 / -1–15 | 11 / 6–19 | 17 / 12–24 | 22 / 18–28 | 27 / 23–31 | 29 / 26–33 | 28 / 25–33 | 24 / 21–30 | 18 / 14–24 | 11 / 5–18 | 5 / -2–13 |
| Night °C | -5 / -12–3 | -3 / -10–5 | 1 / -4–9 | 6 / 2–13 | 11 / 8–18 | 17 / 13–22 | 19 / 16–24 | 19 / 16–24 | 15 / 12–20 | 9 / 6–14 | 3 / -2–9 | -2 / -9–4 |
| Rain mm | 65 / 22–108 | 67 / 22–118 | 88 / 42–127 | 93 / 60–118 | 107 / 75–139 | 110 / 85–130 | 105 / 60–127 | 96 / 53–119 | 92 / 67–112 | 86 / 57–119 | 84 / 39–120 | 77 / 29–123 |
| DLI | 14 / 11–18 | 20 / 18–23 | 27 / 25–29 | 34 / 32–36 | 37 / 36–40 | 40 / 39–42 | 40 / 38–44 | 35 / 33–40 | 29 / 26–33 | 21 / 18–25 | 14 / 11–19 | 12 / 9–16 |
| RH % | 58 / 56–64 | 57 / 55–62 | 56 / 55–58 | 55 / 54–57 | 57 / 54–59 | 58 / 56–60 | 58 / 53–61 | 59 / 53–61 | 58 / 54–61 | 57 / 55–59 | 58 / 56–61 | 59 / 57–64 |
Each figure is the median across the 1435 grid cells holding the 1795 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 1141:1420 (32.925, -108.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -20.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -7.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.5 °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 1435 distinct grid cells holding the 1795 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1141:1420 (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 33.00_-108.750, lapse-corrected +166 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1869 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Timon T. K., some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Sergei Maslov, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Zach Earl, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Annika Lindqvist, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Steven Lamonde, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).
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 glabra, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
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.
Staphylea trifolia American bladdernut
Mertensia virginica Lungwort oysterleaf
Acer negundo Ashleaf Maple
Rosa carolina Carolina Rose
Gymnocladus dioicus Kentucky coffee-tree
Lindera benzoin Benjamin bushOther Rhus 4 in the reference
Rhus aromatica Aromatic Sumac
Rhus integrifolia lemonade sumac
Rhus ovata sugar sumac
Rhus typhina Stag's-Horn Sumach 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 answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata 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: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.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 answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery 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.








