Shrub or small tree to about 5 m tall. Branchlets densely silky-hairy. Leaflets 11-31, dark green, toothed, tapered to a point, bluish below, scarlet or orange in autumn. Flowers greenish in dense hairy terminal clusters. Fruits in unusual and spectacular, red, hairy, terminal clusters.

R. glabra L., Smooth Sumac (Scarlet Sumac, Vinegar Tree), from N America is similar and occasionally grown, particularly as the cultivar 'Laciniata', which has deeply cut leaflets.

E North America.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Anacardiaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.