The Macro & Micro Habitats of Poison Sumac

General Habitat and Growing Regions

• Poison sumac is found in sun or shade in moist environments throughout eastern North America -- from Maine to central Florida, west to eastern Texas and north to Wisconsin. However, it is uncommon to rare in most of these areas, found in isolated patches within each region. For example, in the southeastern states, poison sumac occasionally grows in the Coastal Plain, but is mostly absent from plant communities in the Piedmont and mountain regions. It is intolerant of dry conditions and is unknown in the Great Plains and arid regions of the West Coast.

Environmental Conditions

• Constant moisture is the single defining characteristic of poison sumac habitat, and it grows equally well in standing water or any soil that is consistently moist. It is tremendously cold-hardy, tolerating temperatures as low as minus 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Poison sumac habitats include sandy, clay or loam soils, but the shrubs are generally found in soils with a low pH value, including highly acidic peat bogs. This species of sumac is normally found in undisturbed, intact ecosystems, one reason for its relative obscurity.

Ecological Habitats

• Poison sumac grows in nearly every type of wetland, from peat bogs to open swamps and flooded forests. It is also found along streams and rivers, sometimes growing along the bank, but also prevalent in the flood plains of some river systems. In forests, it can be found in the shade of hardwoods where there is natural seepage of groundwater, as well as low-lying forests in the Deep South and wet, boggy forests in the Great Lakes region.

Specific Habitats

• The Escambia river basin in southern Alabama and northwest Florida is home to poison sumac, especially in "pineland bogs," the low-lying pine forests of the region. In North Carolina, it grows at the edges of coastal swamps and occasionally in forested wetlands of the Coastal Plain. In Illinois, it grows in both sandy and non-sandy marshes, shrubby fens and riparian zones, but only in a small area in the northeast part of the state.