Tree · Anacardiaceae
Winged sumac
Rhus copallinum · includes its varieties and subspecies
Winged sumac is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,265 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Winged sumac at a glance
- Native in
- 1,265 counties, across 34 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b PLANTS minimum temperature −28°F
- Mature height
- 8 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −28°F; zone 4b winters bottom out at −25°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Winged sumac is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,265 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,265 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 66 counties
- Arkansas 68 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 61 counties
- Georgia 56 counties
- Illinois 52 counties
- Indiana 50 counties
- Kansas 27 counties
- Kentucky 94 counties
- Louisiana 42 counties
- Maine 6 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 28 counties
- Mississippi 60 counties
- Missouri 90 counties
- Nebraska 2 counties
- New Hampshire 9 counties
- New Jersey 21 counties
- New York 25 counties
- North Carolina 83 counties
- Ohio 50 counties
- Oklahoma 30 counties
- Pennsylvania 55 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 40 counties
- Tennessee 46 counties
- Texas 37 counties
- Vermont 6 counties
- Virginia 89 counties
- West Virginia 38 counties
- Wisconsin 13 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 8 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 28 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 5.3 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 14 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −28°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 140
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Anacardiaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- RHCO
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Rhus copallinum (PLANTS symbol RHCO), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources