Rocky Mountain Smooth Sumac habitat

Description:

Rhus glabra L. Our local form has been treated (and still is by some ecologists and those in the horticultural trade) as Rhus glabra var. cismontana. Taxonomists have widely dismissed this treatment and have synonymized it under R. glabra, however, Dr. Ty Harrison, Emeritus Professor of Westminster, indicates that both forms are growing on the Westminster College campus, he has studied the two forms for many years, and they are genetically and morphologically distinct from the tall plants that grow in the east. It would therefore seem to warrant taxonomic recognition. Compared to the eastern plants it grows much smaller (1 to 3 meters rather than 3-10 meters), has a smaller inflorescence, and tends to have fewer leaflets (7 or more commonly 11-27 compared to typically 11-31), and grows in dry places and often on steep slopes where even other hardy local trees/shrubs cannot.Besides Rocky Mountain Smooth Sumac, another name for this form is Dwarf Smooth Sumac. A shrub to small tree in size, usually 1-3 meter tall, this species is native to Utah primarily in the northern/central portion of the along the Wasatch Front (with some outlying occurrences in southwestern and southeastern Utah). It is clonal but usually not dominant. While widespread in North America, it is only found in occasional pockets in the western United States. Twigs and petioles are glabrous. Fruits are short-pubescent.Collected in our area by Marcus Jones on July 17, 1880 in City Creek Canyon (there may be some earlier collections than that) which probably one of the earliest Salt Lake County, Utah collections of this species.February 4, 2012, Salt Lake County, Utah, approx. 4,875 ft., steep, rocky (quartz) slopes