Attractive, narrow shrub or small tree (Rhus, or Toxicodendron, vernix) of the sumac, or cashew, family, also called poison elder, native to swampy acidic soils of eastern North America.
In some boreal regions, like parts of North America, burned conifer forests are being replaced by deciduous trees, which grow—and therefore suck carbon out of the atmosphere—faster.
Southern Europe contains forests of a different character, where drier summers lead to more conifers or dwarf forms of the larger deciduous trees found to the north.
The benefits of temperature regulation can also be found in deciduous trees, which offer passive solar shading in summer, while allowing the sun's rays penetrate deep into a building's floor plan during winter months.
In the end, these exquisite gold and russet displays help deciduous trees recover as much as 50% of the nitrogen and phosphorus from their old leaves to help grow fresh new green ones in the spring.