Stems caespitose, simple or many branched, 60-150 cm tall, ca. 1 cm in diam., antrorsely setulose, armed with spreading stinging hairs, dense in lower parts, sparser in upper parts.
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.