726 SPONDIACEAE 
Leaves with simple blades: ovary and drupe very oblique. 1. COTINUS. 
Leaves with compound blades: ovary and drupe not oblique. 
Drupe somewhat elongated. 2. METOPIUM. 
Drupe broader than long. 
Drupe with a glabrous outer coat: stone ribbed. 3. RHUS. 
Drupe with a pubescent outer coat: stone smooth. 4. SCHMALTZIA. 
1. COTINUS Adans. 
Shrubs or trees, with a yellow wood. Leaves alternate: blades simple, entire or 
slightly toothed. Flowers perfect, in large, loose, terminal panicles, whose divisions are 
often plumose. Sepals 5, imbricated, persistent. Petals 5, longer than the calyx. Sta- 
mens 5, inserted under the annular disk : filaments short, distinct : anthers shorter than the 
filaments. Ovary very oblique, sessile, 1-celled : styles 3, lateral. Ovules pendulous from 
a basal funicle. Drupe obliquely reniform, gibbous, the outer coat thin and veiny. Stone 
horny. SMOKE TREE. 
1. Cotinus cotinoides (Nutt.) Britton. A shrub orsmall tree, sometimes 12 m. tall, 
with spreading or drooping branches. Leaves numerous; blades membranous, obovate or 
oval, 4-15 cm. long, obtuse or notched at the apex, entire, undulate, usually acute at the 
base, glabrate above, sparingly pubescent on or near the nerves beneath ; petioles 1-3 cm. 
long: panicles 1-3 dm. high, the branches glandular-villous, becoming plumose : pedicels 
filiform, subtended by narrow, scarious, deciduous bracts: flowers greenish white, 3 mm. 
broad: sepals ovate: petals very thin, oblong-ovate, obtuse, crisped : stamens 5, included ; 
anthers as long as the subulate filaments : drupes obliquely oblong, 5 mm. long, prominently 
veiny. [Rhus cotinoides Nutt. ] 
On rocky hills, Missouri to Tennessee, Alabama and Texas. Spring. 
2. METOPIUM P. Br. 
Trees, with poisonous juices and flaky bark. Leaves alternate, pinnately compound: 
rachis almost terete ; leaflets with leathery entire petioluled blades reticulated beneath. 
Flowers dioecious, in axillary open spreading panicles. Sepals 5, broad, imbricated. 
Petals 5, about twice as long as the sepals, ascending, imbricated. Disk annular, often 
slightly lobed. Stamens 5, shorter than the petals: filaments short, subulate: anthers 
opening lengthwise. Ovary 1-celled, seated in the disk: style short: stigma 3-lobed. 
Ovule solitary. Drupe somewhat elongated, glabrous, lustrous, apiculate : stone parch- 
ment-like. Porsonwoop. CoRALSuMaAcH. Docror Gum. 
1. Metopium Metdpium (L.) Small. A tree sometimes 14 m. tall, abounding in a very 
poisonous resinous sap, the trunk rarely 6 dm. thick. Leaf-blades petioled ; leaflets 3-7, 
the blades ovate, 3-9 cm. long, commonly abruptly acuminate, but rather obtuse, entire, 
obtuse or subcordate at the base, glabrate ; petioles 1-3 cm. long: panicles axillary, few- 
flowered, 1-2 dm. long: pedicels stout, subtended by minute bracts: sepals 5, reniform or 
nearly orbicular, scarious-margined : corolla about 5 mm. broad : petals 5, oblong or ovate, 
nearly 3mm. long, leathery, usually obtuse, conspicuously nerved : drupes oblong or oblong- 
ovoid, 10-15 mm. long, orange or scarlet. [Rhus Metopium L.] 
—— sandy soil, peninsular Floridaand the Keys. Also in the Bahamas and the West India Islands: 
3. RHUS L. 
Shrubs, trees or vines, with a caustic and often very poisonous resinous sap. Leaves 
alternate, pinnately 3-several-foliolate: leaflets with entire or coarsely and irregularly 
toothed blades. Flowers polygamous or dioecious, in lax axillary or lateral panicles. 
Sepals 4-6, persistent. Petals 4-6, equal, imbricated. Disk annular. Stamens 4-6, or 10. 
Ovary l-celled. Ovules pendulous from a basal funicle. Drupe pale, glabrous, with a thin 
outer coat which soon falls away from the wax-secreting sarcocarp which contains longi- 
tudinal and somewhat reticulated strands which tend to persist about the ribbed stone. 
Porson Ivy. Porson Oak. 
A. Leaf-blades 3-foliolate : vines or low shrubs. 
Vine, climbing by aérial rootlets. i 
Drupes 5-6 mm. in diameter: sarcocarp with narrow irregular ridges. 1. R. pb sas soni 
domes ha imm. in diameter: sarcocarp with broadly rounded ridges. 2. R. Flori 
S 3 
a. Leaflets with entire blades, glabrous. 3. R. Blodgettii. 
