Creature Feature: Fragrant Sumac

Fragrant sumac, one of the closest look-alikes of poison oak, is harmless by comparison and often used by the indigenous Kumeyaay peoples for weaving.

For this month's creature feature, you may be thinking... Gah! Not poison oak! And you'd be right!

Meet fragrant sumac, also known as basket bush. This plant, along with its close relative, skunkbush sumac, are just two of several poison oak look-alikes in San Diego. They're sprawling out EVERYWHERE right now, and they're completely harmless.

When I moved to California, I got the worst poison oak rash of my life. An unnoticed brush with the plant (in pants!) left a six-inch weeping welt on my leg. The itching lasted for a miserable month.

This experience changed how I interacted with California's plants for years. I was afraid to touch anything green, and I bathed in Tecnu after every hike.

Today, like the scar on my leg, my poison oak anxiety has all but disappeared. On the overgrown trail where I took the photo above this month, I would have turned around and gone home had I not known the difference between fragrant sumac and poison oak. But knowledge is power: I hiked through the brush and enjoyed a lovely river swim at the end—no itching involved!

I invite you on any of my hiking tours to learn how to spot important differences between our harmless and irritating native plants. Who knows—it could save you a lot of worry (and itching) in the future!