The pubescent on stems, even on young ones, is a dead give away.

Why would it be difficutl to tell the two apart with that feature? Do folks mistakenly mis id as they look just at the foilage? We don't have TOH around here but the Staghorn is quite common.

Sumac flowers, both male & female, are very attractive to honeybees when blooming.

I found the glandular indentation on TOH to be of great help when I ID'd one a couple days ago by the leaves alone. This was my first positive ID for TOH. After seeing both side by side, they really are quite different.

One thing I would like to add to this topic is a pic of mature TOH fruit. If both have fruit there is absolutely no mistaking one for the other.

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This post was edited by j0nd03 on Thu, Jun 27, 13 at 10:48

A lot of compound leaved trees out there that can get confused. Overall, staghorn is probably easier than a lot of sumacs.

Yes I posted a thread earlier asking for an ID of either a sumac or TOH. Different people said it was either a sumac or a TOH, but as it turns out the people who said TOH were correct. I can't blame the ones who said sumac because the resolution of the picture wasn't enough to see the leaves clearly enough. Here's a picture of what I found growing out of the foundation of my house a few days after I posted that thread-

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Around here the common sumac is Rhus glabra, not the pubescent one so using that as a clue doesn't work for everyone.

As the name implies Rhus glabra is glabrous or lacking in pubescence. So we have to fall back on other traits of leaf morphology. Sessile leaflets on sumac rather than stalked leafles on TOH is a good place to start.
I took this pic this morning of Smooth Sumac. The flowers were buzzing with insects. Notice how clean the foliage is. If the homeowner puts sumac on their postage-sized lot that's a mistake made out of ignorance. Sumac is best suited to vast, open areas and sucessional landscapes.
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Cut stems of both Staghorn & Smooth Sumac exude sticky latex which must have been the inspiration for Elmer's Glue. This is not found with TOH {{gwi:375348}}

That makes sense, I was just thinking Staghorn but I guess it applies to other Rhus.

I've seen on small lots and by the look of it, worked good, because is small tree. A lot of people mow for the hobby of it, so some suckering isn't going to be much of a concern when mowing weekly. Seen the same with white poplar, though that is less preferable because was large trees next to house, but beautiful for time being.

Great sap picture! Thanks :)

Today I was near Havre de Grace, Maryland standing at the bottom of an ancient flint furnace looking up. Our old friends TOH and Empress Tree seem to require very little to exist. Worth noting Hydrangea arborescens and many Pteridophytes co-existing here.
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