PLANT: Thicket-forming shrubs or small trees, to 3 m tall; bark dark gray; twigs glaucous, lenticular, pinkish-gray. LEAVES: odd-pinnately compound, 13-19 foliolate; leaflets sessile, narrowly lanceolate to oblong, 20-80 mm long, 10-25 mm wide, subentire to serrate, glabrous, dark green above, paler beneath, deciduous and bright red in the fall; apex acuminate; base rounded. INFLORESCENCE: INFLORESCENCES dense thryses, 16-24 cm long, 8-24 cm wide, puberulent; bracts narrowly lanceolate, caducous FLOWERS: to 3 mm long; sepals greenish; petals cream. FRUIT: lenticular-orbicular, to 4 mm in diameter, dark red, glandular pubescent, viscid. NOTES: Rich soil in oak and ponderosa pine woodlands, often in canyons and riparian zones: all AZ cos. except La Paz, Santa Cruz, and Yuma; 1030-1820 m (3400-6000 ft); Jun Aug (fruits may persist overwinter); s Canada, WA, OR to New England, s to FL, TX, AZ, n Mex. REFERENCES: John L. Anderson, 2006, Vascular Plants of Arizona: Anacardiaceae. CANOTIA 3 (2): 13-22.