The sight of the bright colored leaves and the maroon red clusters of hairy fruit on this ten- foot-high shrub can be found in dry, rocky places over all but the central parts of the United States. It is also a popular shrub in home landscaping.

The scarlet sumac has a larger but similar-looking relative, the staghorn Rhus glabra sumac and the two are most accurately distinguished from one another by examining their stems. The stems of the scarlet sumac are smooth while those of the staghorn sumac are very hairy with beautiful, almost fern-like foliage.

These two forms of sumac are desirable in many ways. The tannic acid which they contain has been much used in dyeing, and it is the tannic acid which is medicinally valuable. But a caution should be applied here; not all members of this family are friendly. The other family of which this plant is a member includes the all-too-familiar poison ivy, poison oak, and the quite similar-looking poison sumac.

It is notable that, in the poison forms, one usually finds the seed stalks coming from the leaf axils along the stem, but in the useful species they are usually terminal. The fruit of the poison forms is gray green or white, but red in the forms of those that are safe to use. The number of leaflets of the poison kinds runs from 3 to 13, while from 9 to 31 leaflets are found on the medicinal species.

The medicinal use of poison ivy, oak, and sumac is, for practical purposes, limited to the injection of the poison from the plants into the system as an antidote. One hears stories of persons who have chewed the leaves for the same purpose. The effects of both poison and cure are, however, so variable that one is best advised to leave the decision on treatment to the medical profession.

There is some evidence suggesting that the juice of the jewelweed, Impatiens pallida, which is often found growing in swamps where poison ivy thrives, is an effective emergency remedy for poison ivy. If contact has been made with ivy, crush the stems of the jewelweed on the parts, or boil down a batch of the juicy plants and apply this decoction as a lotion.

Both scarlet and staghorn sumac have a valuable astringent property, and a drug made from the dried ripe fruit is a component of gargles. A drink made from sumac is also a cooling draft for those with fevers. Seemingly, the healing quality is found in the bark as well as in the fruit.

One authority recommends a dose of 1 teaspoonful of the bark decocted in boiling water and taken a mouthful at a time to relieve throat irritations. With this same quality in mind, sumac has also been recommended for various skin irritations or for the treatment of gonorrhea. The Iroquois Indians considered it a general alternative. The bark may be boiled in milk and used as a healing wash for minor burns in the absence of more potent remedies.