''Rhus coriaria'', commonly called Sicilian sumac, tanner's sumach,
or elm-leaved sumach, is a
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...
shrub to small tree in the cashew family
Anacardiaceae
The Anacardiaceae, commonly known as the cashew family or sumac family, are a family of flowering plants, including about 83 genera with about 860 known species. Members of the Anacardiaceae bear fruits that are drupes and in some cases produce ...
. It is native to southern Europe and western Asia.
[ The dried fruits are used as a spice, particularly in combination with other spices in the mixture called za'atar.
]
Etymology
The word originally comes from Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...
''summāqā'' 'red', via Arabic, Latin, and French.['']Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...
'', 3rd edition, September 2019
''s.v.''
/ref>
Distribution and habitat
''Rhus coriaria'' is native to the Eastern Mediterranean
Eastern Mediterranean is a loose definition of the eastern approximate half, or third, of the Mediterranean Sea, often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea.
It typically embraces all of that sea's coastal zones, referring to commun ...
, Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...
, Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...
and northern Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, but is now naturalized in most of the Mediterranean Basin
In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and wa ...
as well as Macaronesia
Macaronesia (Portuguese: ''Macaronésia,'' Spanish: ''Macaronesia'') is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the North Atlantic, off the coasts of Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of Atlantic oceanic islands ...
.
Cultivation
The plant will grow in any type of soil that is deep and well-drained.[Plants for a Future database]
accessed August 2010
Uses
The fruit has a sour taste; dried and crushed, it is a popular spice in the Middle East.[ Immature fruits and seeds are also eaten. Mature fruits were also known well before lemons to the Europeans since the times of the ancient Romans, who appreciated its sourness and used it in vinaigrettes like lemons in modern times. It is traditionally used and also clinically investigated for lipid lowering effects.]tannic acid
Tannic acid is a specific form of tannin, a type of polyphenol. Its weak acidity ( pKa around 6) is due to the numerous phenol groups in the structure. The chemical formula for commercial tannic acid is often given as C76H52O46, which corresp ...
.
Dyes of various colours, red, yellow, black, and brown, can be made from different parts of the plant.[
Oil extracted from the seeds can be used to make candles.][ It has been reported that the plant has significant antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer and DNA protective activity.]
Images
Image:ZUMAQUES.jpg, Cultivated ''R. coriaria'', with olive trees, in Spain
Image:Sumac.jpg, Spice (ground fruit) for sale in Istanbul
Image:Sumak.jpg, Spice, close-up
References
coriaria
''Coriaria'' is the sole genus in the family Coriariaceae, which was described by Linnaeus in 1753. It includes 14 species of small trees, shrubs and subshrubs, with a widespread but disjunct distribution across warm temperate regions of the worl ...
Spices
Flora of Europe
Flora of Western Asia
Flora of Central Asia
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
{{Anacardiaceae-stub