Rhus coriaria

The Sicilian sumac, tanner’s sumac or elm-leaved sumac is in the cashew or Anacardiaceae family and is native to southern Europe. It is a deciduous open-spreading small tree that grows 3 m tall.

• Stems are densely branched, bark is thin, gray-brown, initially densely glandular hairy at young shoots; buds are densely covered with light brown hairs.
• Leaves are deciduous, alternate, pinnately compound and up to 20 cm long with 11–15 oblong-lanciolate leaflets, 2-4 cm long, coarsely toothed.
• Plants are dioecious (separate male and female plants); tiny, greenish-yellow flowers are borne in compact, terminal panicles up to 25 cm long; flowering is in June-July.
• Fruits are small, roundish, reddish kernels containing small, black seeds. They ripen in the fall and stay on the tree through the spring.