Leaves are alternate and odd-pinnate. Flowers are dioecious, or have unisexual and bisexual flowers on the same plant.
Fruit is a drupe.
Some plants, such as poison ivy, are highly poisonous. Key to Rhus Species I. Twigs are densely hairy. Flowers are greenish and open in June or July. Fruits are crimson, hairy, and ripen in August. Twigs are not hairy or only minutely so.