726 SPONDIACEAE 



Leaves with simple blades : ovary and drupe very oblique. 1. Cotixus. 

 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. Sch.maltzia. 



1. COTINUS Adans. 

 Shrubs or trees, with a yellow wood. Leaves alternate : blades simple, entire or 

 slightly toothed. Flowers perfect, in large, loose, terminal panicle.s, 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 Tbee. 



1. Cotinus cotinoides (Nutt. ) Britton. A shrub or small 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. Sej^als 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. PoisoNwooD. Coral Sumach. Doctor Gum. 



1. Metopium Metopium ( 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 abrujitly acuminate, but rather obtuse, entire, 

 obtuse or subcordate at the base, glabrate ; petioles 1-3 cm. long : panicles a.xillary, 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 o, oblong or ovate, 

 nearly 3 mm. long, leathery, usually obtuse, conspicuously nerved : drupes oblong or oblong- 

 ovoid, 10-15 mm. long, orange or scarlet. \_Rhus Metopium L.] 



In sandy soil, peninsular Florida and the Keys. Also in the Bahamas and the West India Islands- 

 Spring. 



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 1-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. 

 Poison Ivy. Poison Oak. 



a. Leaf-blades 3-foliolate : vines or low shrubs. 

 Vine, climbing by aerial rootlets. 



Drupes 5-6 mm. in diameter: sarcocarp with narrow irregular ridges. 1. R. radicans. 



Drupes 3-4 mm. in diameter : sarcocarp with broadly rounded ridges. 2. H. Floridana. 



Upright shrubs. 



a. Leaflets with entire blades, glabrous. 3. R. Blodgettii. 



