Index / Search / Rhus trilobata
§1 Plant — species · Anacardiaceae
Rhus trilobata Nutt.
vernacular skunkbush sumac
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Shrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Anacardiaceae R. Br.
- Genus
- Rhus
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- Medium
- Moisture use
- Low
- Fire
- Medium
- Salinity
- Medium
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- Low
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -53 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 140 min.
- Precipitation
- 8–20 in/yr
- pH range
- 6.5–8.2
- Root depth
- 12 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 4 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 4 ft
- Foliage texture
- Coarse
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Red
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- Slight
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Early Spring
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Spring
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 25,790
- Propagation
- seed, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Medium
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Montana distribution
Recorded in 39 of 56 Montana counties.
Native · 39 counties
- Big Horn 30003
- Blaine 30005
- Carbon 30009
- Carter 30011
- Cascade 30013
- Custer 30017
- Daniels 30019
- Dawson 30021
- Fallon 30025
- Fergus 30027
- Gallatin 30031
- Garfield 30033
- Golden Valley 30037
- Jefferson 30043
- Judith Basin 30045
- Lewis and Clark 30049
- Madison 30057
- McCone 30055
- Meagher 30059
- Musselshell 30065
- Park 30067
- Petroleum 30069
- Phillips 30071
- Pondera 30073
- Powder River 30075
- Powell 30077
- Prairie 30079
- Richland 30083
- Roosevelt 30085
- Rosebud 30087
- Sheridan 30091
- Silver Bow 30093
- Stillwater 30095
- Sweet Grass 30097
- Treasure 30103
- Valley 30105
- Wheatland 30107
- Wibaux 30109
- Yellowstone 30111
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/RHTR ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/3190562 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z