I have seen a lot of Smooth Sumac growing along the sides of the trails by the National Seashore. I wasn’t sure what it was until I did a little research.
Smooth Sumac is a large shrub which grows to about 10 feet with large, 12″ leaves. The bark is smooth and brown; the twigs are grey or red. The flowers are yellowish and bloom in June and July. The berries, which you can see in the photographs, are tiny, red, hairy, sticky and about 8″ upright. They grow in dense, conical clusters.
I also learned that it is not poisonous, like Poison Sumac.
Have you ever seen Smooth Sumac?
I wonder if these are the same plants that grow wild–and with wild success–and that my mother used to call “railroad trees” because they sprouted up along the railroad tracks!