Family |
Anacardiaceae
Rhus coriaria
L.
Rhus coriaria L.
(Sp. Pl.: 265; 1753 – Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CLXIV nº 2; 1969)
• Life-form & habit: Deciduous shrub or small tree, 1–4 m tall, often forming dense thickets from a woody rootstock. Branches stout, reddish-brown, with prominent lenticels; young shoots and petioles densely pubescent.
• Leaves: Alternate, imparipinnate, 10–25 cm long, with 9–15 opposite leaflets; leaflets ovate to elliptic, 3–6 × 1.5–3 cm, serrate, acute at apex, base rounded, densely pubescent on both sides. Petiole and rachis reddish, softly hairy. Leaves turning bright red in autumn.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Terminal compound panicles 10–20 cm long, densely many-flowered. Flowers small, greenish-yellow to reddish, polygamous, 5-merous, 3–4 mm across, with hairy calyx and short pedicels.
• Fruit: Drupes small, globose to subglobose, 4–6 mm in diameter, reddish to dark crimson when ripe, covered with fine glandular hairs producing a sour, astringent taste.
• Phenology: Flowers from May to July; fruits ripen from August to October.
• Habitat & elevation: Dry slopes, roadsides, forest margins, and rocky scrub, often on calcareous or volcanic soils, 200–1 800 m. Frequently found on terraced hillsides and degraded habitats.
• Lebanese distribution: Common and widespread — recorded by Mouterde from Mount Lebanon, Beqaa Valley, and coastal slopes; particularly abundant around Barouk, Zahlé, Dahr el-Baïdar, and Jezzine.
• Native range: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Azores, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, France, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon–Syria, Madeira, Morocco, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Peninsula, Palestine, Portugal, Sicilia, Sinai, Spain, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Uzbekistan (POWO).
• Introduced range: Germany, Great Britain, South European Russia, Tunisia (POWO).
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: A well-known Mediterranean–Irano-Turanian shrub cultivated since antiquity for its fruits, which yield the culinary spice sumac. Distinctive by its velvety red infructescences and pinnate leaves turning crimson in autumn. Occasionally confused with Rhus tripartita, but R. coriaria has smaller drupes and more leaflets. In Lebanon, both wild and cultivated populations are common, with traditional uses in tanning, dyeing, and food.