POISON SUMACH. 97 
pending on vulgar or provincial names for the 
distinction of plants. A mistake of very injuri- 
ous consequence might easily arise from the confu- 
sion of the English names of two trees so dissimi- 
lar in their qualities. 
The class Pentandria and order Trigynia; the 
Linnean order Dumose and the Jussieuean Tere- 
bintaceew include the genus to which this shrub 
belongs. The generic character consists in an 
inferior, five-parted calya, a corolla of five petals, 
and a berry with one seed. The Rhus vernix has 
its leaves annual, pinnate, glabrous ; its leafets ob- 
long, entire, acuminate ; its panicle law, and iis 
flowers diecious. 
The trank of the poison sumach is from one 
to five inches in diameter, branching at top, and 
covered with a pale greyish bark. ‘The wood is 
light and brittle, and contains much pith. The 
ends of the young shoots and the petioles are usu- 
ally of a fine red colour, which contributes much 
to the beauty of the shrub. The leaves are pin- 
nate, the leafets oblong or oval, entire, or some- 
times slightly sinuate, acuminate, smooth, paler 
underneath, nearly sessile, except the terminal 
one. The flowers, which appear in June, are very 
small, green, in loose axillary panicles. Where 
they appear not axillary, it is because the leat un- 
43 
