Plant · P-1029

Evergreen Sumac

Rhus virens

Evergreen Sumac is a shrub or small tree native to rocky slopes, gullies and limestone hills from central Texas and southern New Mexico south into central Mexico. Its glossy, pinnately compound leaves hold their color through most of winter before dropping briefly and being replaced within a week by a fresh flush, giving it a mostly evergreen presence with pink-tinted new growth in spring and maroon tones after frost. Small creamy white, honey-scented flowers open in late summer and draw bees and butterflies, followed by red, fuzzy berries that ripen into fall and are eaten by birds and small mammals. It grows fast on very well-drained, low-fertility, dry rocky soil in full sun to partial shade, and is generally free of pests and disease once established.