Is this elderberry?

[LeeB]

There are pics here of two different bush/trees. Are either one elderberry?

 

 

 

 

 

[sprucebunny]

I think elderberry has a flatter flower form.

Some of these are ( I think ? ) elderberry and some rasberry and blackberry.

 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Looks almost like Tree of Heaven - Allanthus. How big is the trunk?

[btulloh]

Looks almost like Tree of Heaven

That's what I'm seeing.  If so, it's going to be a good seed year, which is not a good thing.  If it is TOH, cut them down before the seed pods mature and spread misery.  Better to burn them, or put them in the trash.  Don't want that kind of propagation from a TOH.  Highly invasive species.

[sprucebunny]

This red elderberry does have a similar clumpy/cone shape flower form.
Red Elderberry, Sambucus racemosa | Native Plants PNW

So I don't know what is in my picture which is why I've never eaten it !!

[WDH]

It is sumac.  Genus Rhus.

Virginia Tech Dendrology Fact Sheet

Could be shining sumac or smooth sumac.  There is a staghorn sumac and a poison sumac.

[Don P]

There's a drink I remember from, awhile ago  :D Just googled rhusaide and up it popped, if its staghorn its very distinctive when ripe;
https://healthstartsinthekitchen.com/sumac-ade-a-natural-alternative-to-kool-aid/

Neat, it is also an antimicrobial veggie wash, cool.

[mike_belben]

Pretty confident i have fruiting staghorns right now but id like some confirmation before i overdose on poison sumac lemonade.  Im quite allergic to urushiol.

[WDH]

Yes Sir.  I am in your camp.  Leaflets look toothed.  That is good.  Poison sumac leaflets are entire (not toothed). 

[Don P]

Yup, that's it.
Read that link above carefully, you might not be out of the woods with it.

[mike_belben]

You mean the link about using it on my hemorrhoid?  Better make darn sure its the right sumac for that!


Cause of death: 

poison sumac suppository.

[WDH]

Just leave it alone and let the birds and foxes have it. 

[nativewolf]

Mike that's sumac and you should be fine making a tea but as with anything go slow.  Poison sumac is actually pretty darn rare and a wetland species.  When I was doing dendrology tests for entry foresters I used to have to really search for the stuff in the Piedmont of NC.  

Even then as WDH says the Poison Sumac leaf is smooth like the evil cousins.  Another pretty unusual one is poison oak, which very few people have seen and recognized- they will just assume it is an oak seedling and then point to a poison ivy on the ground and say that is poison oak.  

Poison Sumacs fruit don't stand up like that, they fall over if they were that large, more like a cluster of grapes.  Oh, and stems are bright red...like almost blood red.  

I've just driven over a cluster of elderberry, should have taken a picture.  

[mike_belben]

Thx wyatt.  Is there a 5 leaf poison oak or just 3 leaf? Is all the 5 leaf stuff virginia creeper?  The internets is fulla confliction about that.

[btulloh]

I have seen 5 leaf poison ivy for sure.  It's usually on the ground though - don't really see the 5 leaf climbing, although I'm sure it csan.  We have plenty of PI and Va Creeper around here.  They get to be easy to tell apart when you see both all the time.  Va Creeper has a red vine with no hair, for one thing.  PI has a hairy vine - although growing on the ground it doesn't show that.  PI leaves and Va Creeper leaves are significantly different, but like a lot things, familiarity and the opportunity to see them both make a difference as far as ID goes.

[nativewolf]

Mike- only 3 leaves.  5 leaves is virginia creeper.  

Here is a map to show you what's growing in your area.  

https://www.poison-ivy.org/poison-ivy-overview

[mike_belben]

Ive got them all and my eyes are sharp for it these days.  Too many rounds of steroids.

Man theres some gory stuff on that site!

[doc henderson]

I am unfamiliar with 5 leaf PI.  

[WDH]

I have never seen 5 leaflet poison ivy.  Only 3. 

[btulloh]

I'll see if I can find some 5 leaf and put up a picture. 

[thecfarm]

We got busy with life and The Farm fields was growing up with bushes. We went to work with bush snippers and I bought a riding lawn mower so my Father could mow around the walls and keep the bushes at bay. Every thing tried to come back, the maple, oak, white birch, beech and sumac. All died with 2 years. My father said we grow it to death.  :D  Except for that sumac. That stuff took years to die.  ???  

[farmfromkansas]

That sumac grows here in Kansas, if you spray the stuff in June with 2-4d, you can get rid of it.  Probably have to spray again next year.