Rhus glabra, smooth sumac, differs in that the stems and petiole lack the hairy appearance of staghorn sumac. However staghorn sumac may hybridize with this plant resulting in intermediate characteristics. Toxicodendron vernix, poison-sumac, is usually found in swampy areas and has white fruit, hairless stems, and untoothed leaf margins. The genus Rubus contains many plants of difficult taxonomy. The more weedy members, sometimes referred to as brambles, include raspberries, blackberries, and the dewberries.
Brambles have upright and arching to trailing stems arising from root buds.
The leaves are alternate and compound, composed of 3-7 leaflets with serrate margins. The red or green stems are biennial, with bristles or prickles. Flowers have 5 white petals and produce a red or black, berry-like fruit that is actually a cluster of smaller fruits. Brambles spread by seed, root sprouts, rhizomes, and tip-layering. The plants may form thickets which are impenetrable because of the prickles on the plants stems.