The fall color is outstanding and is the most attractive of the sumacs. The twigs are smooth and lack the hairy velvet covering of the staghorn sumac. Buds are hairy, and the terminal bud is absent. Twigs are stout and vigorous. The greenish, dioecious flowers appear in June and July and are borne in terminal panicles.
Fruit is borne in terminal panicles and is scarlet in color.
The fruit ripens in August or September and is showy well into the winter. The staghorn sumac, also called velvet sumac, is the largest of the native sumacs. Under favorable conditions, it reaches heights of 35 feet and a trunk diameter of 8 inches. The staghorn sumac is found from New Brunswick, Canada, to Minnesota, south to Georgia and Alabama. It occurs in most areas of Ohio, with fertile, dry uplands as its favorite home.