Fruit of the Winter

This tree is a Stag Horn Sumac or Rhus typhina and was planted by the previous occupants of our house. It was well established when we first arrived here 7 years ago. Part of its attraction to me is that it grows at steep angle so much so that it needs a couple of stakes to keep it stable. It looks completely wind-blown and reminds me of the sort of trees you see in Japanese or Chinese paintings but in fact it originates in North America. One of its sister trees in the sumac genus is highly poisonous., though fortunately not this one. In autumn its leaves are a riot of colour and I have blipped them previously (see HERE) but unusually it retains its fruit throughout the winter whilst dropping its leaves. What attracted me to do a winter blip of it is the very hairy nature of its branches and its woolly textured fruit. Surprisingly I was able to identify it just by typing ‘hairy branches’ in to Google.. Definitely worth looking at LARGE to see these details.