Rhus coriaria
species of plant
Rhus coriaria, commonly called Sicilian sumac, tanner's sumach, or elm-leaved sumach, is a deciduous shrub to small tree in the cashew family Anacardiaceae. It is native to southern Europe and western Asia. The dried fruits are used as a spice, particularly in combination with other spices in the mixture called za'atar.
Etymology
The word originally comes from Hebrew סמק, then through the Aramaic summāqā 'red', via Arabic, Latin, and French.
Distribution and habitat
Rhus coriaria is native to southern Europe and western Asia, including the Eastern Mediterranean, Crimea, Caucasus and northern Iran, but is now naturalized in most of the Mediterranean Basin as well as Macaronesia.
Cultivation
Rhus coriaria is a hardy, drought-tolerant, deciduous shrub growing to 3 metres (10 ft) at a medium rate or to a small tree up to 5 m (16 ft) high. It prefers full sun. It is frost-sensitive and can be grown in USDA hardiness zones 8-11 and UK zone 9. The plant will grow in any type of soil that is deep and well-drained, including poor, rocky, alkaline or slightly acidic soils.
Uses
The fruit has a sour taste; dried and crushed, it is a popular spice in the Middle East, used especially in the spice mixture za'atar.
The public source identifies “Rhus coriaria” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Rhus, coriaria and species.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q159546.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rhus coriaria” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.