Sicilian sumac (Rhus Coriaria)

A shrub of the family Anacardiaceae, fully naturalised in Madeira. Its leaves have 4 to 7 pairs of ovate-lanceolate leaflets, sometimes reddish. The leaves and young shoots of this shrub are used for tanning leather. A certain quantity of sumac was once exported, but today this trade has come to a complete standstill.

Of this same shrub Gaspar Frutuoso says the following: ‘There is much sumac on this island of Madeira, which serves for tanning leather, especially cordovan, because it makes it very soft and white. This sumac is planted in small holes, as one plants roses and vines; its stem is like fennel, and its foliage resembles fennel too; it thrives on high, cool ground; it is harvested every year by cutting it level with the ground, so that the stock does not dry out and can sprout again, for it is a plant that lasts many years in the soil. It is a very profitable crop, because it multiplies so much that the fields fill with it, as with rose bushes, and the root spreads beneath the ground, and what grows on the island is very fine. Once the foliage, which is the said sumac, has been gathered, it is laid out in the sun, and when dry it is ground in a water mill (engenho), just as woad is ground on this island, and made into powder; and once ground it is shipped to various places in sacks and casks (pipas).’