According to what I’ve read so far, this variety can be used similarly to other medicinal sumacs. Although he doesn’t mention this species specifically, here is some info on sumac’s medicinal properties from Matthew Wood: http://www.woodherbs.com/Sumach.html

Kate, here is some info about poison sumac: http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/tove.html. It’s not even the same genus as the other sumacs and has a bit of a different structure. I’ve not found a sumac so far that has thorns as one of its identifying characteristics.

Thanks so much to everyone who responded!! All your suggestions were very helpful to make me look closer at the different plants suggested. It’s such an adventure identifying plants! I love it!

I have a similar looking shrub growing locally that I thought was sumac but it’s low growing and the leaves have small thorns on them. How do you tell the medicinal varieties from the poisonous?

I’m curious, keep us posted as to your findings

Christina