Poison Sumac???

9 years ago

Please assist - I am so confused. We have 4 to 5 of these trees in our back yard (which until we moved in back in June, was an overgrown thicket like mess). They are at least 20 feet tall and have many split trunks and are now growing green berries. A neighbor called them crepe myrtles, but I have never seen a crepe myrtle that big before. Of course our house was built in the 50s so there was plenty of time for a tree to get super big. I do not know if they bloom in the spring as we bought the house in June.

So many quizzes I've taken seem to indicate it could be poison sumac based on the leaf and the berries, but we've heard they are extremely rare (not like to have multiple ones spread in different areas of the back yard) and that they like swampy area - which our back yard is not.... Any help would be appreciated. The berries are freaking me out!
-Laura

Comments (3)

sam_md
9 years ago
it could be poison sumac based on the leaf and berries Not clear to me why you say that. The simple, glossy, evergreen leaves look nothing like compound leaves of sumac. Poison sumac has gray berries and are rare as you noted.
Isn't it more likely that you have one of the privets? You have one of several species of Ligustrum which is a common hedging material. That's just what I would expect to find in an "overgrown thicket-like mess"
LauraMMac
Original Author
9 years ago
Oh thank goodness. We were confused whether it was simple or compound (as you may be able to tell - we are NOT gardeners....) As I looked up pictures of privets - that is exactly what it is. Is it strange for it to be in tree form like this rather than a hedge bush? It does seem to be very aggressive - its growing everywhere in the side part of the yard... straight upshoots - no branching out like a bush...
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zzackey
9 years ago
If it hasn't been kept trimmed it will keep getting taller.