Sumac

Pennants waving in the breeze or perhaps gaudy prayer flags, the sumac are in their glory now; breathtakingly wondrous on a dull overcast day.  Photos never seem to do them justice. From the hottest reds, tinged with magenta, through the orange spectrum, into yellow and exiting by way of chartreuse. They wave and shout, Happy Thanksgiving. And the deer say "Thank-you, you are delicious!" Which means there will be short stumps of trunks by next spring. However, sumac grows like a weed; even the years the deer have eaten them to the ground the trees recover to put on the show another year.

Sumac leaves waving in the breeze

Sumac

Ever since I was a child I have loved Sumacs. As kids, my best friends, the twins and I used to make forts and houses under the grove of sumac in their back yard. What I loved most was how velvety the stems and stocks were. [Their name Staghorn (R. typhina) refers to the antlers of a deer.] Well wandering around the pond, I bumped into the fruit. Now I am ashamed to say I never knew sumac made fruit. Really can't believe I never noticed them before. Guess I needed a bonk on the head, because once seen, never forgotten. The shapes are so phallic, this fruit holding all the seed. I always thought the seed heads were the reddish maroon candles on the upper branches that the birds love. I have been doing some research but have not found any reference to this fruit. Does anyone know about this?

Sumac Fruit