Lemonade Berry

The Kumeyaay brewed the seeds into a tea. Modern hikers drop a seed or two into their water bottles for a slight tang.

Description ^2,4,27,59

Lemonade berry is a rounded, aeromatic, evergreen shrub usually less than 10 feet (3 m) tall. The trunk is short and stout, and twigs and smaller branches are noticeably thickened.

Leaves are thick and leathery, broadly oval, 1 – 2 3/8 inches (2.5-6 cm)  long, with smooth or coarsely serrate margins, flat or cupped to the underside. Mature leaves are dark green, younger leaves brighter; the newest leaves and young stems may have a reddish tinge.

Flowers are small, radially symmetrical, about ¼ inch (6 mm) across and white to pink in color. Flowers are born in terminal clusters which appear Dec-May.  Plants generally bear bisexual flowers; some plants may have only female flowers. Major bloom period is February to May.¹

The reddish fruit are flattened, ¼-½ inch (6-13 mm) wide. Young fruit are coated with a gray, viscous material that disappears as the season progresses. The coating is very sour with a flavor similar to lemon.

Classification ^2,11,34,44

Lemonade berry is a dicot angiosperm in the Sumac family, the Anacardiaceae. Members of this family have small, five-petaled flowers each of which produces one seed with a hard seed coat that is surrounded by fleshy tissue or some form of a gelatinous coating. Many have resinous or milky sap.

Many members, such as poison oak and poison ivy, contain urushiol which produces severe contact dermatitis. Other members of the family, such as cashews and mangos are familiar food crops.

Lemonade berry is the only member of the Rhus genus to occur in the Reserve, but other family members are present, including the closely related laurel sumac (Melosma laurina) and poison oak (Toxicodendron diversiloba).

Ecology

Like other shrubs of the chaparral, lemonade berry is drought-adapted by having leaves that are relatively small, thick and leathery to retard water loss. Rigid internal leaf structure prevents the leaf from wilting,³² and they are ready to take up water after any shower. Under conditions of extreme drought, leaves may orient vertically to reduced insolation and heating.²⁷

Like many chaparral shrubs, lemonade berry can survive most natural wildfires. New vegetative growth is produced from the roots, and many seeds survive the heat to germinate.¹⁴

Human Uses

Kumeyaay and early settlers soaked the berries in water to make a refreshing beverage;¹⁶ when sweetened, it is a bit like lemonade. Kumeyaay ground seeds into a beverage to drink when feverish.¹⁶

Interesting Facts

Like leaves of many evergreens, drought-tolerant shrubs, which are thick and leathery, the leaves of lemonade berry do not wilt.²⁷

The short, stiff branchlets make excellent support for funnel-web weaving spiders, and their flattened webs often festoon lemonade-berry shrubs.

Some people are sensitive to contact with the sap of lemonade berry, breaking out in an itchy rash that is similar to the rash of poison oak.^24,36

The genus name, Rhus, comes from an ancient Greek word for sumac.²¹