Poison Sumac — How To Identify & Locate

[Music] greetings everyone i'm adam harrington and today i'm hanging out in some very wet woods these woods are wet because it recently rained and also because the drainage is generally poor in this particular area and i can tell that this is the case because the ground is really soft and mucky in certain spots and there are a lot of plants and shrubs and trees that are good wetland indicators what i want to do in this video is introduce you to an incredibly fascinating and absolutely beautiful plant which is more like a tall shrub or a small tree and this woody plant thrives in wetland habitats not exactly in forested wetland habitats but more out in the open in swamps and fens and marshes now this plant isn't too commonly encountered and some people might consider that to be a good thing because one of the unique features of this plant is that it's poisonous but as we will discuss later in the video there are a lot of positive attributes associated with this plant including its role in supporting the health of other organisms that live here so let's head a bit deeper into these woods until we come to a clearing where hopefully we'll encounter more sun and hopefully we will see the toxic plant known as poison sumac [Music] okay so after walking through the woods for about a half a mile i finally made it to a clearing end because there's no tree canopy out there the vegetation is really dense but even under the vegetation the ground isn't completely firm in some spots it's really wet and mucky and swampy so i have to be really careful as i maneuver through this very biodiverse wetland now before i go look for poison sumac i want to point out two good indicator species that tell me i'm in a wet habitat and both species are non-toxic the first one is actually a tree that borders this clearing and i did see a bunch of it as i was walking through the woods but i do have a better view of it now because the branches are hanging down this is swamp white oak quercus bicolor this is different than white oak quercus alba which is a much more common tree found in drier woods swamp white oak quercus bicolor is a facultative wetland species meaning this is a species that usually occurs in wetlands but occasionally it can be found in non-wetland habitats a key feature of swamp white oak is that the underside of its leaf is not only lighter in color than the top side of the leaf which is why the species name of this tree is bi-color but the leaf is also slightly hairy on the underside if you rub the leaf you could definitely tell that the underside has a velvety feel to it another feature of the leaf is that its lobes are quite shallow unlike the lobes of quercus alba which are deeper now i'm pointing out this non-toxic species because if you find it that probably means you're in a wetland habitat or pretty close to one and that means that you may encounter poison sumac the plant we will soon discuss but before we do that i want to point out one more non-toxic species because it's currently flowering so here we have broadleaf arrowhead also known as wapito and sagittaria latifolia sagittaria the genus name refers to the arrow-shaped leaves and latifolia the species name literally means broad leaf so put the two together and you can see why this plant is called broad leaf arrowhead this is a very hardy plant it's commonly used in wetland mitigation projects because it can tolerate high levels of heavy metals but it can also accumulate high levels of pollutants and heavy metals and this is important to note because the tubers of wapato are edible and they are commonly collected by humans for consumption so if you forage for the tubers or are interested in foraging wapato tubers i'd strongly recommend learning more about the wetland in which they are growing and find out if the habitat contains elevated levels of toxic compounds now this plant doesn't just grow in habitats that look like this you will also find sagittarius latifolia along the margins of ponds and lakes and along rivers and streams so those are just two among the many non-toxic indicator species that tell us we are in a pretty wet area and i could go on and on and on discussing the wonderful vegetation that exists out there but for now let's turn our attention toward the woody plant that's truly the star of this video if i'm not mistaken i think i see it right over there [Music] so here we have one of the most stately yet toxic plants in this swamp this is poison sumac toxicodendron vernix now some people call it a shrub others say it's a small tree i think it's somewhere in between now poison sumac has a pretty broad but scattered distribution here in the united states it typically grows in the midwestern great lakes regions into the northeast but you also see pretty dense concentrations of poison sumac in the southeastern portion of the united states specifically in alabama georgia and northern florida however poison sumac isn't too commonly encountered unless you're exploring wetland habitats and at least here in western pennsylvania poison sumac seems to really prefer higher quality wetlands now the genus name of poison sumac toxicodendron literally means toxic tree and its species name vernix means varnish referring to the fact that black varnish can be made from the sap of this plant and of related species and it's interesting to note that in the 18th century the american horticulturalist william bartram sent to england a large shipment of plants that included poison sumac the reason being that british plant collectors were specifically interested in poison sumac for its ornamental value and also for the use of its oils to coats lacquerware now the former name for poison sumac was ruse vernix so if you have an older field guide you may see that name being used instead but the most currently accepted scientific name for poison sumac is toxicodendron vernix so poison sumac is in the same genus as poison ivy and even though the two plants share many similar features and the two plants are co-inhabiting this wetland as we speak poison sumac and poison ivy hardly resemble one another as i said before poison sumac is a small tree or a tall shrub depending on how you look at it it contains compound leaves comprised of many leaflets typically between 7 to 13 leaflets per leaf and an interesting and very noticeable feature of poison sumac is that the stalks of the leaves are often red right now the poison sumac in this swampy area is fruiting so this is typically what you will see if you encounter poison sumac during the summer months these fruits are rounded and green at first and they will eventually ripen to a whitish color in the fall now poison sumac often forms dense impenetrable thickets but in this wetland habitat i'm only seeing scattered specimens of poison sumac and it's actually quite easy to determine from a distance which shrubs and trees are poison sumac because not too many plants in this wetland look like it now as i mentioned earlier poison sumac and poison ivy are in the same genus the toxicodendron genus poison sumac is toxicodendron vernix poison ivy is toxicodendron radicans now while both plants are woody and while both plants can be found in similar habitats only poison sumac will develop into a small tree or a tall shrub and poison sumac contains leaves with 7-13 leaflets poison ivy on the other hand is vine like and it typically contains three leaflets in this particular habitat i don't see a lot of poison ivy out in the open but i do see it climbing up some of the trees along the edges of the wetland now what's so toxic about poison sumac why do we often hear that we must avoid this plant at all costs and never come into physical contact with it well no surprise the toxicity associated with poison sumac is attributed to the same exact compound that's found in poison ivy and this compound when brought into physical contact with humans can cause dermatitis and severe skin rashes now i've never come into physical contact with poison sumac i've come pretty close but i've heard and i've read that the reactions caused by poison sumac can be much worse compared to the reactions caused by poison ivy at least according to some people the compound associated with the reaction is known as urushiol and what's interesting is that the skin rashes experienced by humans are not actually caused directly by urushiol instead the rashes are caused by the body's own immune system mounting a defensive attack initiated by the presence of urushiol in the body and this powerful reaction is referred to as a delayed hypersensitivity response because symptoms are not noticeable for at least 12 to 48 hours after exposure to urushiol and just like we see with poison ivy symptoms associated with handling poison sumac can last many days perhaps even weeks now not everyone is susceptible to skin rashes associated with urushiol it's reported that up to 85 percent of humans are sensitive to poison sumac and poison ivy while 15 of humans do not experience any reaction whatsoever it's also worth noting that very few animals experience any negative reaction when brought into contact with poison sumac and poison ivy humans and a few primates seem to be the only susceptible animals that break out in rashes and in a few minutes we will explore this topic a bit more for now though let's discuss a potential lookalike because you might be wondering isn't there another shrub or small tree with the word sumac in its name and isn't it true that some people make lemonade out of its fruits and the answer is yes there is another species with the word sumac in its name and in fact there are many sumac species around here one non-toxic sumac is staghorn sumac perhaps you are familiar with this small tree which is taxonomically placed within the roost genus staghorn sumac typically inhabits early successional areas like fields forest edges roadsides and areas along railroad tracks and staghorn sumac does sort of resemble poison sumac but there are many differences between the two species staghorn sumac contains leaves with 11 to 31 leaflets and these leaflets are toothed also many parts of stagger and sumac are hairy including the central leaf stock and twigs and when staghorn sumac is fruiting you can clearly see how different it is compared to poison sumac staghorn sumac fruits are produced in dense red hairy cone-like clusters and these fruits can be harvested mid to late summer to be made into a lemonade-like beverage the young shoots of staghorn sumac are also edible during the spring months now staghorn sumac isn't the only non-toxic sumac there's also winged sumac and smooth sumac which is obviously not hairy and all of those non-toxic sumacs are in the roost genus and if you will recall poison sumac was formally classified as a ruse species until it was more recently reclassified as a toxicodendron species so roos as a genus and toxicodendron as a genus are related genera they're both in the same family of plants which is the anacardiaceae family and just as a side note the anacardiaceae family of plants includes such well-known foods as mango cashew and pistachio now there are a few more things i'd like to say about poison sumac specifically as it relates to other organisms in this wetland but before we do that let's go see if we can find another tree [Music] so here i am next to another poison sumac tree it's not this one right here this is an elm sapling and it's not this one clearly it's not this one because i'm touching it and believe me i am sensitive to urushiol but it's right above me it's towering over me you can see some of the leaflets you can also see the multi-stem trunk but this is a very valuable species not that this one's not valuable but this one is incredibly valuable because it produces edible fruit and this one is our high bush blueberry plant vaccinium corn bosom one of our native blueberries that grows in eastern north america this one is unlike low bush blueberry varieties in that this one grows to be 12 feet tall which for those of you who like to use a metric system is a little over three and a half meters tall now even though this is growing directly in front of poison sumac and even though the branches are intertwined in some places i feel comfortable harvesting the fruits and eating them i just have to be really careful but this is loaded with ripe fruit right now and the high bush blueberry is another facultative wetland species so you will typically find this at least around here in wetter areas though you will sometimes find vaccinium core bosum in drier places as well now i want to turn our attention back towards the star of this video which is poison sumac and i want to discuss its ecological value in this wetland earlier i mentioned that humans and some other primates seem to be the only animals negatively affected by its oil urushiol this oil is found in all parts of the plant including its fruits almost every other animal is immune to poison sumac and not only are the fruits non-toxic to other animals but many animals consume the fruits of poison sumac as part of their autumn and winter diets specifically i'm talking about non-migratory birds who consume the fruits especially during the winter months when food is scarce and examples around here include northern bobwhites ruft grouse which is our state bird here in pennsylvania and other birds that frequent this wetland poison sumac also recharges the nutrients found in this wetland every autumn when its deciduous leaves senesce and fall to the ground returning highly decomposable litter to the earth while also benefiting a variety of bacterial and fungal organisms that consume the plant debris and if you look closely at poison sumac you could see that its bark provides a home for lichens these grayish greenish growths are composite organisms made up of typically algae or cyanobacteria and fungi that live together in a symbiotic relationship the fungal partner provides the body and shape in which the algol partner can live and the algal or cyanobacterial partner photosynthesizes and provides essential carbohydrates to the fungus these particular lichens exist because poison sumac is giving them a substrate on which to grow of course the lykans might be able to find homes on other trees around here but without poison sumac there would probably be less like and diversity in this wetland so there's more to poison sumac than just toxic plant stay away avoid it at all costs don't have anything good to say about it at all on the contrary i don't think enough good things can be said about poison sumac and i know it sounds strange but i kind of wish there was more of it around i don't see it too often in fact i hardly see it at all largely because higher quality wetlands aren't too common in western pennsylvania a lot of them have been drained for agricultural purposes so the preferred habitat of poison sumac has for the most part been destroyed but when i do see poison sumac i really pay attention because it's the kind of plant that commands respect in a subtle manner it doesn't do it out of force but it does so just by simply being there it's a plant that encourages us to slow down to perhaps even stop completely in our tracks and to recognize just how powerful one small tree can be but in those instances when subtle influences and little hints fail to capture our attention poison sumac has the ability to teach us an uncomfortable lesson not because it's malicious but because that's just what it does given the circumstances but even then each encounter with this remarkable water loving plant is a golden opportunity to hone our skills to practice noticing and to consciously register what is here what has been here and what will hopefully be here for generations to come [Music] on behalf of poison sumac and all the other organisms that exist in this incredibly biodiverse wetland i'd like to say thank you so much for watching this video i truly appreciate it hope you enjoyed it i hope you learned something about poison sumac and the other species that i discussed and if you're not subscribed to the learn your land youtube channel i encourage you to do that you can also head on over to learnyourland.com and sign up for the email newsletter and if you're on social media you can follow me at learn your land on facebook and instagram thanks again truly appreciate it and i'll see you on the next one [Music]

Channel: Learn Your Land

Views: 81,352

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Id: Fs7jsWwo_Ck

Length: 18min 42sec (1122 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 28 2020