E 



T 



X 



4 d 



■'T ^ 



1 



in fhupe and colour like the male. But are larger, and 

 have a roundifli gcrmcn, fupporting three very Ihort 

 ilyies j thefe are fucceeded by roundifli berries whic! 

 ripen in autumn. 



The third fort grows naturally in North America ; 

 this has a flirubby branching ftalk which rifes fix or 

 feven feet high, covered with a brown bark. The 

 branches are ligneous, and grow ere£l ; they are gar- 

 ni Hied with fmooth trifoliate leaves, whofe lobes are 

 oval, fpear-fhaped, and have a few fmall indentures 

 on. their borders ; they are near three inches long, 

 and one and a half broad, with feveral tranfverfe veins 

 from the midrib to their borders. The male and fe- 

 male flowers grov/ upon feparate plants ; their fl:iape 

 and colour islike thoie of the former, and the fruit 

 is alfo like that. 



The fourth fort grows naturally in Virginia, Penfyl- 

 vania. New England, and Carolina.; from alt thefe 

 countries I have received feeds and plants' of it, and 

 it alfo grows in Japan. This, in the countries where 

 it grows naturally, rifes with a ftrong woody flalk to 

 the height of tv;enty feet or upward, but in England 

 we feldom fee any of them more than five or fix feet 

 high ; the reafon of this is from the plants being ten- 

 der, fo are deftroyed in fevere winters \ but I have 

 feen fom.e plants which were kept in pots and (hekered 

 in winter, upward often feet high, in the garden of 

 Samuel lleynardfon, Efq-, at Hillendon, which, af- 

 ter his death were purchafed, with all his other exotic 

 plants, by Sir Robert Walpole. This has a ftrong 

 woody ftalk, covered with a light brown bark inclining 

 to gray, branching ciit on every fide. The branches 

 ^re garniftied with winged leaves, compofed of two 

 or three pair of lobes terminated by an odd one. The 

 lobes vary greatly in their (hape, but for the moft 

 part they are^fpear-ftiaped, about three or four inches 

 long, and one and a half broad in the middle ; they 

 are^Iometimes rounded at their bafe, but end in acute 

 points ; their upper furface is fmooth, and of a lu- 

 cid green, but their under fide is pale and a little 



The foot-ftalks of the leaves change to a 

 bright purple colour, efpecially toward the latter part 

 of fummer, and in autumn all the leaves are of a 

 beautiful purple colour before they fall off". The 

 male flowers are produced in loofe panicles from t]ie 

 -w^ings'oftfie branches ; they are fmall, of an herba- 

 ceous white 



hairy. 



\ 



/"compofed of five fmall roundifli 

 petals, and have five fhort ftamina within, terminated 

 by roundifli fummits." The 'female flowers are upon 

 feparate plants from the male, and are difpofed on 

 loofe panicles •, thefe are fliaped like the male, but 

 are fomewhat larger, and have in their center a round- 

 ifli germeh, fupporting threeyery fliort ftyles, crown- 

 ed with globular ftigmas. ' The germen afterward 

 turns to a berry variable in ftiape, fometimes almort 

 oval, at others (haped like a fmall fpear; but the 

 moft o-eneral form is roundifli, with a protuberance 

 almoft like the Cicer i thefe include one feed. It 

 flowers in July, aiid in warm feafons the female plants 

 produce fruit, but they do not ripen here. "._ 

 This is undoubtedly the fame plant which is men- 

 tioned by Dr. Kempfcr in his Amcenitates Exotica- 

 runi, by the title of Sitz, vcl Sits Adju, oi* Arbor 

 vernicifera legitima, folio pinnate juglandis, fruftu 

 racemofa Ciceris facie, p. 791, 792. l^he true Var- 



■ hifli-tree with a Walnut-tree leaf, and a branching 

 fruit like Cicers. Bin the figure lie has exhibited of 

 this plant, is the moft inac'curate of any perhaps to be 

 found in any of the modern books of botany ; it is 

 drav/n from a fide fliooc of a branch which has been 

 cut off; fo has neither flower nor fruit to it, and be- 

 ing a vigbroihs ftioot, the leaves are very different m 

 fize and fhape from thofe on plants which have riot 



■ been headed i and his defcription of the leaves feems 

 to have been ^taken from this branch, otherwife he 

 could not have compared them to thofe of the Wal- 

 nut-tree. He feems to have been confcious of this 

 fault, by his adding another figure of the plant hi 

 fmall under his own, taken from a Japan Herbal, m 



u -'. 



4 



T O X 



which there is a much better rcprefentation of it than 

 his own conveys. Hov/ a perfon, who was employing 

 himfelf in making drawings of plants, in a country 

 where the natural iiiftory of it was fo little known, 

 fliould make choice of fuch an ImperfctSt fample for 

 his figure, is amazing j for there can be no doubt of 

 his meeting with perfefl plants in flower or fruity in 

 a place where the flirubs are cultivated fo plentifully 

 as he mentions ; and in his defcription of it, he fets 

 out by comparing th^ height of the flirubs to thofe 

 of Willow, than which he could not have chofen any 

 plant by way of comparifon, which would have con- 

 veyed a more indetermined idea -, for it is well knowri 

 there are different fpecies of Willow, v;hofe growth 

 is from four to forty feet high ; therefore there can 

 be no other w^ay of reconciling his defcription with 

 what he afterward mennons, when he is giving an 

 account of the method ufcd by the nadvCs in colled- 

 ing the varnifli, where he fiys the flirub's are cut 

 down every third year, but by comparing their grov/tK 

 with that of the Willows, which are cut down for 

 fuel, &c* every four or five years. 

 However, as the dried famples of this plant which he 

 brought to Europe, agrees with the American Toxi- 

 codendron here mentioned, and the milky juice of 

 both have the fame qualities of ftaining, fo there cart 

 be no doubt of the plants being the fame ; therefore if 

 it is thought that varnifli may be of public utility, it , 

 may be collected in plenty in moft of the Englifli fet- 

 tlements in North America. 



Kempferhas alfo given a figure and defcription of a: 

 fpurious Varnifli-tree, which is called Fafi-PO-Ki by 

 the natives, and "is by him ntled Arbor vernicifera 

 fpuria, fylveftris anguftifolia. Spurious wild Varmfli- 

 tree with a narrow leaf, which he fays agrees with the 

 other* in every part, excepting the lobes of the leaves, 

 ^hich afe narrower. This led me into a miftake in 

 the former editions of the Gardeners Didtionary, by 

 fuppofing their difference might arife from culture 

 only ; but having fince raifed from feeds a ftirub 

 which has all the appearance of his fpurious Varnifli- 

 tree, and is evidently a diftinft fpecies, if not a diff^^- 

 rent genus from the true fort, I am certain Kempfcr 

 has been guilty of a great miftake in this particular. 

 The feeds of t'his were fent from China, for thofe ot 

 the Varnifli-tree ; but v/henl fowed them, I remarked 

 they v^ere pretty much like thofe of the Beech-tree, 

 vbut firidlte^ beihg'tMck on.one fide and narrow on" 

 the other, in fliape of a wedge, from whence I fup- 

 pofed there were three of the feeds included in one cap- 

 fule. TlieVe Is a flirub of this kmd now growing in 

 the Chelfea Garden^ which is more than twenty . feet 

 high, but, as it Kb riot yef produced flowers, I am 

 at a lofs where to range it, therefore have placed it 

 here till it has fiiewn its flowers. How Dr. Linnaeus' 

 came to change the title of this plant, and remove it 

 to another clafs, I am at a lofs to account -, for had he 

 feen the plants growihg,'of had fpecimens of it, I am 

 certain he would hot have done ; fpr though fome- 

 tirtifes,' in very vigorous growing plants, the flowers 

 have frequently fix or feven ftamina, yetthefr con- 

 ftant number is rarely more than five : and how fome 

 other perfons, from whom he had this intelligence, 

 has fuppofed the true Varnifli-tree and the wild one 

 were the fame, I am" at as great a lofs to guefs i for 

 thelea^es of the true Varnifli-tree has feldom more 



than four pair of lobes, but the wild fort has four- 

 ■ teen'Tr fixteen piir, and the lobes, are differently 



• 1 • : r 



•''^•*s■ 



formed. ' ' ■ . . ...... 



The fifth fort grows naturally in North America^ 



from" whence the feeds were a few years fince brought 

 to England ; this has a flirubby ftalk which fends out 

 manv lio-neous branches, covered with a fmooth pur- 

 ple bark, and ^arniflied with trifoliate leaves, ftanding 

 upon foot-ftalks an inch long ; the lobes are oval, 

 about two inches long, and one and a half broad in 

 the middle, of a deep lucid green on their upper 

 fide, but of a> pale green on their under, and 

 deeply crcnated or indented on their edges, their bafe 



. joining 



are 



