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Rhus ovata
Also called Sugarbush
Sugar sumac (Rhus ovata) is a long-lived evergreen shrub or small tree from dry chaparral and canyon slopes of Southern California, Arizona and Baja California. It is grown for its dense evergreen foliage and needs full sun with excellent drainage.
Rhus ovata, commonly known as sugar bush or sugar sumac, is a shrub or small tree found growing in the canyons and slopes of the chaparral and related ecosystems in Southern California, Arizona, Baja California and Baja California Sur. It is a long lived-plant, up to 100 years, and has dense evergreen foliage that make it conspicuous. It is closely related to and hybridizes with the lemonade sumac.
The sugar bush is primarily located in inland localities, as it grades into its relative, the lemonade sumac, near the coast. However, it does occur on Santa Cruz and Catalina Island. It may be found throughout the inland mountains and foothills of Southern California, continuing southward through the Peninsular Ranges of San Diego County into northern Baja California, in the foothills and mountains of the Sierra de Juarez and the Sierra de San Pedro Martir. Further south, more disjunct distributions are found in the sky islands of the Central Desert of Baja California, primarily in the mountains of the Sierra La Asamblea and the Sierra San Borja. The southern limit occurs in Baja California Sur, on the Tres Virgenes volcano. The species is also found distantly in Arizona, on the Mogollon Rim.
Fragrant sumac · Chinese sumac · Winged sumac · Sicilian sumac · Smooth sumac · Lemonade sumac · Skunkbush sumac · Staghorn sumac · Sumac
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rhus ovata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
