Rhus aromatica

Skunk bush, Skunk Bush

Family: Anacardiaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.3

Skunk bush is a California native shrub found in the California Floristic Province, Mojave Desert (excluding central), and northern Sonoran Desert on slopes, washes, and scrublands at elevations below 2,200 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces yellow petals and yellow-green to reddish sepals in small clusters that emerge before its leaves. Growing as a deciduous shrub 0.5 to 2.5 meters tall with short, stiff branches, it has a distinctive growth form that provides visual interest in arid landscapes. Its leaves are compound with three leaflets, featuring a diamond-shaped terminal leaflet 10 to 35 millimeters long and smaller ovate side leaflets, which are tomentose or slightly hairy on the underside. The fruit is a sticky, bright red-orange drupe approximately 5 to 8 millimeters in diameter, adding further visual appeal to this aromatic shrub.

Habitat: Slopes, washes, scrub

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 2200 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, DMoj (exc c), n DSon

California counties: San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange, San Diego, Monterey, Modoc, Butte, Fresno, Glenn, Inyo, Lake, Napa, Mariposa, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Calaveras, Trinity, Colusa, Shasta, Kern, Siskiyou, Madera, Tulare, Yolo, Tehama, Mendocino, Nevada, Tuolumne, El Dorado, Contra Costa, Lassen, Solano, Stanislaus, Sutter, Humboldt

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.